French Socialist Party (PS) presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo delivers a speech during a campaign meeting a week before the first round of France's presidential election, at the Cirque d'Hiver venueز Thomas Coex/AFP/dpa
French presidential candidate for the socialists, Anne Hidalgo, has called for an import ban on Russian natural gas, urging her compatriots to "stop paying for this gas of shame," during a campaign appearance in Paris on Sunday.
Hidalgo, the current mayor of Paris, also advocated the tightening of economic sanctions on Moscow and getting Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
In view of the rise in the cost of living since the war in Ukraine began, Hidalgo, who is trailing disastrously in the polls, held out the prospect of increases in salaries, pensions and the minimum wage if she is elected the country's next president.
