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Following the 21st Yellow Vest Protests, French PM Calls for Quick Tax Cuts to Appease Protesters

April 8, 2019

 

Yellow Vest protesters at a demonstration in Paris, April 6, 2019

 

French Yellow Vests stage ‘Act 21’ of protests

06/04/2019 -

Benoit Tessier, AFP | . Text by: FRANCE 24 Follow

Protesters from the Yellow Vest movement took to the streets of France for a 21st straight weekend, with hundreds gathered for a march across Paris, one of numerous protests around the country.

Paris police have fine-tuned their strategy of being more mobile and proactive to counter eventual violence since the first Saturday of Yellow Vest protests November 17. The Champs-Élysées avenue is off-limits to protesters after it was hit by rioting last month.

Hundreds gathered in Rouen, in Normandy, a past flashpoint, and hundreds more in eastern Paris at the Place de la République, the start of a march to the business district on the capital's western edge.

The Yellow Vest movement, demanding social and economic justice, has attracted dwindling crowds but still remains a challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

In Paris, two marches were authorised by the police. One, was submitted by Sophie Tissier, a representative of the Yellow Vest movement, and the other by Éric Drouet, a well-known figure within the group.

Protests in the provinces

In Rouen, a few hundred people gathered downtown mid-morning Saturday including some trade unionists. Protesters circled around an area barricaded by the police shouting, "Macron, get lost for good!"

Protests also took place in Lyon, Dijon, Nice, Nantes, Montpellier, Bordeaux and Toulouse.

Last week, Act 20 of the Yellow Vest protests saw 33,700 people take to the streets, according to the French Interior Ministry. In a Facebook posting however the Yellow Vest movement claimed 105,104 protesters took to the streets.

French PM Calls for Quick Tax Cuts to Appease Yellow Vest Protesters

The Irish Examiner, Monday, April 08, 2019 - 04:06 PM

France's prime minister has called for quick tax cuts to respond to the anger expressed through yellow vest protests across the country.

Edouard Philippe unveiled the results of a three-month "big debate" launched by President Emmanuel Macron in response to the demonstrations, giving ordinary people the chance to express their views on France's economy and democracy.

Mr Philippe said "the debate clearly indicates the direction: we must cut taxes and cut them more quickly".

At the same time, however, he said the government will have to cut public spending.

Mr Philippe listed as other major topics the demand for more public services, new democratic ways to influence political decisions and fighting climate change without raising taxes to do it.

He called for "radical" changes but did not provide details.

Mr Macron is expected to unveil a series of economic measures next week.

The yellow vest movement, prompted by a fuel tax hike in November, has expanded into a broader revolt against Mr Macron's policies, which protesters see as favouring the rich and big businesses.

The French government said 1.5 million people have participated in the debate through posts on a website, local meetings and conferences, messages in grievance books placed in town halls and in letters.

Most yellow vests leaders have called on the movement's supporters not to take part in the debate, saying they did not believe in the government's offer to listen to the French.

Mr Philippe's suggestions do not include two of the yellow vests' persistent demands: the reintroduction of a wealth tax on the country's richest people and the implementation of popular votes allowing citizens to propose new laws.

Mr Macron has already made concessions that failed to extinguish the anger of the yellow vest movement.

He abandoned the fuel tax hike, scrapped a tax increase for retirees and introduced a €100 monthly bonus to increase the minimum wage, a package estimated at €10bn.

France plans tax cuts to quell yellow vest anger

BBC, 8 April 2019

The French prime minister says cutting taxes must be a priority, in response to a national debate that focused on the yellow vest protesters' grievances.

Edouard Philippe said "the debate clearly shows us in which direction we need to go: we need to lower taxes and lower them faster".

The "great debate" involved 10,000 meetings in French community halls and about two million online contributions.

France has the highest taxation rate among developed countries.

Data from the OECD economic think-tank for 2017 shows France top, with taxes equivalent to 46.2% of national output (GDP), with Denmark second (46%) and Sweden third (44%).

But France also has the highest level of social spending, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

That spending was 31.2% of GDP in France in 2018; in second place was Belgium (28.9%) and third was Finland (28.7%). The UK figure was 20.6%.

Town-country divide

Tax cuts have been a key demand of the yellow vest ("gilets jaunes") movement that has taken to the streets in France every weekend since mid-November.

Initially the protesters demanded lower fuel taxes, but the movement quickly morphed into a general rejection of President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

Mr Philippe said the three-month national debate had highlighted "immense frustration over taxes".

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption "The big debate is here": Yellow vest protests have dominated French news for months

One of Mr Macron's least popular measures, early in his presidency, was to scrap a special tax for the wealthy.

Yellow vest protesters accuse Mr Macron of protecting the Parisian elite, especially the wealthy, while neglecting the hardship of citizens in the provinces.

Mr Philippe said another lesson from the debate was that "the balance must be restored between the cities and the regions". That would include improving transport links between urban and rural areas.

There was also public demand for more participatory democracy and more action to tackle climate change, he said.

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