France's Royal to unveil presidential proposals

PARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) French Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal, facing a dip in opinion polls, will launch her main campaign pledges tomorrow in a bid to wrest support from her conservative rival Nicolas Sarkozy.

In a pre-released interview today with Le Monde newspaper, Royal said she would propose raising pensions by five per cent and reject a mass amnesty for illegal immigrants in what she called her presidential pact.

Her proposals will follow several gaffes she has made over foreign and domestic policy which damaged her poll ratings and triggered concern in her party that her drive to become France's first woman president in May was faltering.

''It's a contract I want to seal with the French,'' she told Le Monde.

Royal wanted first to consult French voters in a ''listening phase'' in debates across the country or through her Web site before making any concrete proposals.

But her poll ratings have dropped in past weeks, with half a dozen recent surveys showing Sarkozy in the lead. Royal supporters hope the tide will turn when she reveal her pledges tomorrow.

Though Sarkozy, who is still interior minister, will aim to steal some of her thunder as he meets his supporters in Paris tomorrow.

Royal told Le Monde she planned to treat illegal immigrants on a case-by-case basis, taking into account how long they had lived in France, whether they had jobs or if their children were going to school.

On security issues, she proposed re-launching the idea of deploying neighbourhood police.

Compared to a year ago, when Royal was seen as favourite, attacks on her have risen leading her to accuse media and big business of trying to undermine her bid for the presidency.

Sarkozy has taken a tough stance on immigration and crime and made them key themes of his election campaign.

REUTERS AB RAI1914