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Macron outlines plan for 'significant' tax cut after months of unrest Macron responds to gilets jaunes protests with €5bn tax cuts
(about 5 hours later)
Emmanuel Macron has promised tax cuts, pension rises and a continuation of his reform programme while responding to five months of demonstrations by gilets jaunes (yellow vests) anti-government demonstrators. Emmanuel Macron has vowed to make his style of politics more “humane”, but insisted he would press on with his project to liberalise the French economy and overhaul its welfare state despite five months of demonstrations by gilets jaunes (yellow vest) anti-government protesters.
In his first press conference in two years as France’s president, the pro-business centrist said he recognised the protesters’ “just demands” and the “anger and impatience for change” but public order must now be restored. In his first press conference in two years as president, Macron promised €5bn (£4.3bn) worth of cuts to income tax for lower and average earners as well as pension rises for the poorest and vowed no more schools or hospitals would be closed during his presidency, as he responded to protests.
“The transformations that are in progress and the transformations that are essential for our country should not be stopped,” he said from the Elysée palace. The centrist politician conceded that he needed to inject more “humanity” into his style of governance but insisted he would not make changes to his pro-business programme, despite the ongoing anti-government Saturday protests by gilets jaunes, which resulted in sporadic rioting and arson in Paris and other cities.
After five months of protests during which there was sporadic rioting and arson in Paris, Macron has been under pressure to kickstart a programme for structural change that would define the second part of his presidency. Macron said he recognised the protesters’ “just demands” and “anger and impatience for change” and their feeling of not being taken into account by the “elites”, including the presidency, but public order must now be restored. He said although he respected the demonstrators who gathered at the start of the movement in November, he said it had “transformed progressively” and been marred by episodes of antisemitic violence, homophobia and rioting.
Macron said he wanted a “significant” cut in income tax, which would be financed by closing loopholes and squeezing government spending, but the French would also have to work more. The government also plans to link the lowest pensions back to inflation. He said he stood by his project to liberalise the French economy, defending his controversial cuts to its wealth tax, which protestors sought to overturn. He said France was unique in Europe in not having dealt with its structural problem of mass unemployment so he would not go back on his planned “transformation” of the country.
Among others measures, Macron said he planned to make it easier for citizens to propose national referendums. He said: “I asked myself: ‘Should we stop everything that was done over the past two years? Did we take a wrong turn?’ I believe quite the opposite.”
He said he also wanted to reduce the number of MPs and to change voting for the national legislature so it better reflects the diversity of France’s political parties. The parliamentary election system is currently designed to give the winning party a strong majority. Macron, France’s youngest modern leader, took questions from the media behind a sleek desk under hundreds of lights twinkling from chandeliers, in the Elysee palace’s salle des fêtes — a room which was recently completely refurbished in muted dove grey tones of carpet and wallpaper causing complaints from protesters that the presidency was spending tens of thousands on new carpet while others could not make ends meet.
The president had been caught off guard when protesters began occupying roundabouts in a fuel-tax protest in November, which later turned into a widespread movement denouncing tax inequality with regular clashes with police in major cities each Saturday. Macron said he had listened and drawn conclusions from his unprecedented three-month voter-listening exercise, dubbed “the Great Debate” in which grievances were aired during thousands of town-hall style meetings.
Macron, who was was accused by protesters of tilting his reforms in favour of the rich and big business, has seen his popularity ratings drop from the 60% approval rating just after he beat the far-right Marine Le Pen and was elected president in 2017 to around 30%. French voters had said they wanted to pay less tax but wanted more public services. Macron said the “significant” tax cuts for low and average earners would be financed by cutting corporate tax breaks and reducing public spending by streamlining public services. He also said he wanted French people to work longer before retiring, but did not spell out full plans.
The latest measures were announced after Macron launched a three-month voter-listening exercise, dubbed the Great Debate, in which grievances were aired during thousands of town-hall style meetings. At occasional, carefully organised appearances at debates, Macron himself had spoken for up to six hours. He promised to scrap the École nationale d’administration elite graduate training school for French civil servants and public officials. Saying the French style of governance needed to shift, Macron said he planned to make it easier for citizens to propose national referendums, and also would introduce 20% proportional representation into the lower house of parliament. A citizens’ committee, picked at random, would be included in consultations over how to approach climate policy. He also said there should be debate on migration policy every year in parliament
“I intend to transform anger into solutions,” had declared in an open letter to the country before the debate process began in January. Macron insisted he wanted to re-install pride in “the art of being French”, saying France was “not a society of individuals” with their own demands, but a nation of citizens. He said he had seen hatred in some of the street demonstrations that marked a “regression in civic morality and education and I will fight against it with all my strength”.
Admitting to failures in December, Macron had addressed the gilets jaunes by unveiling a €10bn package of tax cuts and income top-ups for the working poor and pensioners, and he had travelled into the rural heartland to try to reconnect with voters. But most protesters had boycotted the town-hall debates. Macron said he personally regretted sometimes having appeared hard and unfair, saying he was tough and demanding on himself and his government and sometimes it might have seemed he was being tough on the French people. He said his focus was now on making politics more “humane”.
While polling has confirmed that French people want to pay less tax, it also showed strong demand for increasing small pensions and providing better health services in rural areas. The government – which will meet on Monday to discuss how to put Macron’s new measures into place – has already stressed there is a delicate line to walk on public spending. The president, who was accused by protesters of making reforms in favour of the rich and big business, has seen his popularity ratings drop to around 30% from the 60% approval rating just after he beat the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, and was elected in 2017.
The centre-right prime minister Édouard Philippe, a fiscal hawk, has argued for tax-cuts and public spending cuts. Those on the left of Macron’s party have argued for more social measures. Already in December Macron had addressed the gilets jaunes by unveiling a €10bn package of tax cuts and income top-ups for the working poor and pensioners.
Macron had been scheduled to give a pre-recorded TV speech last week, announcing his plans to address the social unrest. But just two hours beforehand, Notre Dame cathedral went up in flames and Macron cancelled his speech as he rushed out to scene of the fire. In the speech, Macron had vowed to lower taxes on average-income families – a measure he says would be funded by cracking down on tax evasion. Ingrid Levavasseur, a gilet jaune protester said after the press conference that she acknowledged that “the expectations are so enormous that it was bound to be disappointing”.
Notre Dame €1bn fund pits Paris against provinces
Macron also admitted differences with his German counterpart Angela Merkel on Brexit, trade and energy policy, saying “confrontations” and compromises were part of their relationship, but it was ultimately defined by a “culture of compromise”.
After France had stood firm on refusing to give the UK a much longer Brexit extension last month while Germany had a softer stance, Macron said: “On Brexit, we are not completely on the same page. On our ambitions for the climate and in energy, we are not completely on the same page.”
He also referred to what he described as the “incoherent” decision to begin EU trade talks with the US, backed by Merkel, despite US president Donald Trump’s climate policies. But he said the Franco-German relationship, with its “fruitful confrontations” was strong.
FranceFrance
Emmanuel MacronEmmanuel Macron
Gilets jaunes protestsGilets jaunes protests
Economics
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