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Macron announces state of “economic emergency” in France, promises small salary increases (VIDEO)
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 scrapped the Solidarity Tax on Wealth (ISF) that forced all French households with assets of over €1.3 million ($1.48mn) to pay an additional percentage in 2017, provoking a wave of criticism from the public and the opposition politicians. French MP and the left-wing ‘Unbowed France’ Party leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon dubbed Macron a “President for the Rich.” In his Monday, speech, Macron still defended his stance on the issue by saying that the wealth tax “did not really help” France.
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.
“We will respond to the economic and social urgency with strong measures, by cutting taxes more rapidly, by keeping our spending under control, but not with U-turns,” Macron said.
Armoured European Union military vehicles were filmed storming Paris on Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of protestors continue to protest globalism.
Paris was in lockdown early on Saturday with thousands of French security forces braced to meet renewed rioting by “yellow vest” protesters in the capital and other cities in a fourth weekend of confrontation over living costs.
French police fired the first batches of tear gas on Saturday as massive crowds of Yellow Vest protesters swarmed into the heart of the capital on the 4th weekend of unrest. Hundreds were detained prior to and at the rally.Police detained at least 700 people across the country, including 575 in Paris, during the rallies, Secretary of State to the Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed, as cited by French media. The official added that a total of 31,000 people have been demonstrating in France.
The gilets jaunes (Yellow Jacket) anti-tax riots in France escalated over the past weekend, again citing the impact of higher taxes on fossil fuels – and high levels of taxation in general – on everyday life. French citizens, already subject to the highest taxes in the OECD, are being crushed by both new and systematically increasing taxes, and have taken to the streets by the hundreds of thousands in a “citizen’s revolution”. Recommendations to declare a state of emergency have for the time being been tabled.
With his popularity rating at record lows (recent polls put it at around 26%, on par with Hollande), his capital city burning and the populists he defeated during his stunning electoral victory last year making serious electoral inroads, French President Emmanuel Macron finally caved, and on Tuesday ordered a six month suspension of planned 'fuel taxes' which spurred widespread and destructive protests across France over the past three weeks.
French police deployed tear gas after thousands of "yellow vest" activists converged on the the Champs Élysées for a third week of protests against President Emmanuel Macron and his government. Over 122 arrests have been made.
Huge plumes of smoke were seen on one of France’s most iconic streets today, as protesters burned large plywood sheets, chairs and other material in demonstrations against planned fuel hikes.
