Emmanuel Macron has promised to cut taxes, decentralise France’s administration and prevent the closure of any more hospitals or schools in a new round of reforms aimed at rebooting his presidency and responding to the sometimes violent gilets jaunes movement that has shaken the government.
The Financial Times reports that in a two-and-a-half hour speech and news conference at the Elysée palace in Paris, a combative Mr Macron said he understood the “profound sense of fiscal, social and provincial injustice” reflected in the protests but believed his liberalising reforms of the past two years “should not just be preserved but pursued and intensified”.
France 24 reports that in his headline announcement, Macron vowed to “significantly” reduce income tax for workers in France, while defending his controversial decision to scrap a wealth tax early in his term.
“I want cuts for people who work by significantly reducing income taxes,” Macron said at the Élysée Palace, at his first solo formal news conference inside France of his presidency.
“Macron vowed to press ahead with his reform programme and also warned the yellow vest movement — whose protests have often turned violent — that it is time for a return to order”, the report added.
“The transformations that are in progress and the transformations that are essential for our country should not be stopped,” he said.
Macron made the announcements as part of a series of reforms drawn up after a vast listening exercise called the Great National Debate launched in response to the protests.
He recognised that the yellow vest movement had led to many in France feeling “anger and impatience for change” and praised its “just demands”.
