This article is from the source 'rtcom' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.rt.com/news/446111-macron-speaks-france-massive-protests/
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Macron announces state of “economic emergency” in France, promises small salary increases (VIDEO) | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| As France still struggles to get a grip on the massive protests that have been raging through the country for weeks, President Emmanuel Macron has admitted that the country is in a state of “economic emergency.” | |
| “Today, we are forced to admit [it]. Today, I am announcing an economic emergency in our country,” Macron said, addressing the nation on Monday and calling for “support” for the French economy. | |
| His address comes after four weekends of protests that started over the increase of fuel prices and turned into major discontent with his economic policies that demonstrators said favored the rich. The protests throughout the country boiled over into riots, clashing with police who resorted to using tear gas. | |
| “There is no justification to the anger and all those violent clashes,” Macron insisted in his speech although admitting that the public has “right to indignation.” | |
| The president then announced that the “minimal wages will be … increased by €100 ($113) per month” starting in May 2019. He also pledged to cancel taxes on overtime labor and introduce special tax exemptions for people earning less than €2,000 ($2,270) per month. | |
| Macron, who is often criticized for allegedly only serving the interests of the rich in France, also announced that he ordered the prime minister to develop proposals that would allow “enterprises and the richest members of our society to contribute” to the program of the national economy support, yet he refused to reinforce the so-called “wealth tax.” | |
| Macron also effectively blamed his predecessors for the poor state of affairs in France. He said that the living standards have been deteriorating for some 40 years against the background of the increasing income gap, which together fueled the social tensions. “It has been impossible to fix that in the recent years,” the president said. | |
| Subscribe to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you. |