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LAST UPDATE | 5 Dec 2018
THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT, under pressure from weeks of “yellow vest” protests over rising living costs, has scrapped all planned fuel tax hikes for 2019 and appealed for calm.
An increase scheduled for 1 January, was “scrapped for the year 2019″ in its entirety, Environment Minister Francois de Rugy announced on BFM TV, in an about-turn for the government.
Protests erupted on 17 November in opposition to rising fuel taxes, but have ballooned into a broad challenge to French President Emmanuel Macron’s perceived pro-business agenda and complaints that he is out of touch with the struggles of ordinary people.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to rival political leaders as well as trade unions to help tamp down the anti-government anger that had led to some of the worst rioting in central Paris in decades, according to government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.
“The moment that we are living through is not about political opposition, it’s about the republic,” Griveaux said after a cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe echoed the call, telling parliament: “What is at stake is the security of French people and our institutions. I’m calling for responsibility.”
Four people have been killed and hundreds injured in accidents linked to the nationwide road blockades and protests, which are playing havoc with traffic in the busy run-up to Christmas.
On Saturday, rioters ran amok in Paris, torching some 200 cars, smashing shop windows and vandalising the Arc de Triomphe, an iconic national monument.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen and hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon have been vocal in backing the demonstrators’ demands.
Macron, whose approval ratings have plummeted to just 23%, is yet to comment publicly since returning to France from a G20 summit in Argentina on Sunday morning.
Too slow?
A frequent demand from the protesters, who are mostly from rural and small-town France, is a repeal of his decision to cut a “fortune tax” previously levied on high-earners.
Philippe today called for a debate on the controversial tax cut, signalling it could ultimately be repealed.
“If we do not find good solutions, we will not apply it,” he said of the tax cut.
Macron made cutting wealth taxes a key campaign pledge ahead of his election in May 2017, arguing that such levies discouraged investment and drove entrepreneurs to leave France.
But along with various comments deemed insensitive to ordinary workers, the policy has prompted many of the ex-banker’s critics to label him a “president of the rich”.
Yesterday, Philippe had announced the first major retreat of Macron’s presidency when he suspended for six months a rise in fuel taxes scheduled for 1 January.
He also froze increases in regulated electricity and gas prices and new vehicle norms which would have hit users of old, polluting diesel cars — a battery of announcements targeted at low-income families.
But experts say the government may have reacted too late to the street protests, a regular feature of French political life which have repeatedly forced Macron’s predecessors into U-turns.
“When you leave things to fester too long, it costs more,” Jean-Francois Amadieu, a sociologist at Paris 1 university, told AFP.
An Elabe poll released earlier today found 78% believed Philippe’s concessions fail to meet the protesters demands, and most think they will fail to boost purchasing power.
Some 72 percent continue to support the movement — figures which have remained stable despite the violence last weekend and the government’s climbdown.
Farmer protests
Many “yellow vest” protesters, named after the high-visibility road safety jackets they wear, have called online for new protests this Saturday.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has urged “responsible” protesters not to descend on Paris but has nonetheless called in police reinforcements, bracing for more violence.
Opposition leaders, including Laurent Wauquiez of the rightwing Republicans, have called on the government to impose a state of emergency and to deploy army units to back up the police.
Adding to the image of a country in revolt, the main French farmers’ union said Wednesday that its members would hold demonstrations every day next week.
Two truck driver unions have also called an indefinite sympathy strike from Sunday night, and students are blocking dozens of schools nationwide to denounce tougher university entrance requirements.
Fuel shortages due to blockades remain a problem in areas of Brittany, Normandy and southeast regions of France.
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Tax all they want here to save the planet.. Ruin lives for absolutely nothing.. We don’t even represent 1% of the emissions on this planet and Leo and co will want their Pat on the back… Paddy will explode like the French eventually…
@Sean Higgins: ah would you grow up with your 1%, everyone has to do their part, no individual represents a meaningful percentage of the world’s population. That’s just childish carry on.
THAT SAID, as much as I disagree with their violence, the French are right to protest measures which have a disproportionately negative impact on the very worst off in society. More emissions taxes are an f-you to people on the breadline and rural community. Governments have to get creative with their measures and not just pass everything off as a mindless tax.
@Paddington C.: He is right though.
@brendan H: no, he’s not. Everyone has a role to play and moaning about other countries being worse is the politics of a junior school playground. It is ridiculous that that has any sway for adults.
@Paddington C.: your grandchildren will be twice if not three times as prosperous as you . To levy a tax on the people now to stop a 2% drop in future economic growth is a con , even if humans could effect the climate which they can’t at all . We’re at the mercy of the sun and the planets cyclical orbits .
@lapsy pa: jaysus. No arguing with that… and not for the reasons you’d like
For the Blueshirt shills preparing the people for more unjust taxes here …. The figure of our emmisions on a world stage as a percentage is 0.13 %… Yet Leo and co wish to use our farting cows to tax us even more… Something is gonna give , and Leo senses it but feels the need to apease Euro masters ..
@neilo: were only a fart in the wind ! The oceans are releasing more carbon dioxide then all the other factors combined and because the oceans are so vast and deep that release is from a warming period that started 1000s of years ago . There’s is more carbon dioxide released from the leaves falling off the trees in this country or general rotting of vegetation then all the cars and animals combined , it’s the greatest con bandwagon of all time , total and absolute nonsense to suggest we can effect the weather with carbon dioxide , monoxide , methane , breathing or farting ! The largest gas greenhouse effect is from water vapor ,it is so large and you are so so very very small ! Even when all the people and all the cars and all our livestock are combined it’s still small in the context of the planet and the solar system ! Their still finding reasons for changes in weather patterns so believing it’s a scientifically proven field is ridiculous sure they can’t even predict the weather next week !
@neilo: It’s the biggest con bandwagon ever ! If it were even remotely possible that the temperatures were rising and the ice caps would melt the banks would not invest one penny in coastal cities ! Simple fact that blows any argument you have out of the proverbial rising water ! The oceans have not risen more than an inch in a hundred years and the inch they have risen is due to expansion from warming that happened thousands of years ago ! It’s absolute lunacy and self righteous we are the greatest living creature forklift bollocking ever ! You have literally no effect on anything at a global scale ! The co2 clouds hat hang over China in the winter they tried to monitor but they basically disappear without a trace , not even registering an accountable rising in co2 levels around the globe ! It’s all a big economic snake oil fairytale
Macron needs to disconnect his fears for climate catastrophe from his support of the Western Corporations which are largely responsible for it.
His problem is that as a representative of the Western Oligarchy he lacks any credibility when it comes to asking the hoi polloi to sacrifice their already declining standard of living while the 1% get ever richer.
If= we are to avoid global warming billionaire state-protected capitalism must be destroyed. Simple as…
If these violent protests were happening anywhere in the Middle East, Venezuela, Nicaragua (especially countries not liked by the West) there would be calls for the overthrow of the “Regime”. Politicians would be up in arms at the level of violence and calling for “Sanctions” until the “Regime” learns it`s manners.
But because it is happening in the West, all we hear are crickets from our Politicians, where is the condemnation and the calling for the overthrowing of the Government?
Is it because it is too close to many other countries that have the same policies being put into place?
@Pixie McMullen: Macron was democratically elected last year. There was no controversy about the manner in which the election was run. You must remember it?
@Paddington C.: As you can CLEARLY see, i`m not calling the election into question, i am talking about the violent protests which, if they were happening in another country that the West didn`t like, there would be calls for all sorts of things, have another read like a good lad.
@Pixie McMullen: except the leaders in those countries are unlikely to have been democratically elected. Use your brain like a good lad!
@Paddington C.: The Countries i have mentioned are all democratic, i never mentioned Leo or anyone else by name , what i DID say was OUR politicians in the west, your hatred of me and everything i post has you seeing and reading things i haven`t even written – Can you honestly say that if these violent protests were happening in the countries i mentioned that the UK and US politicians wouldn`t be talking sanctions right now?
you need to take a deep breath and calm down lad.
@Pixie McMullen: Name one country in the Middle East that is democratic (outside of Israel) ?
@Paddington C.: You have a short memory. Yanukovych in Ukraine was democratically elected before he was illegitimately ousted by forces supported by the ‘west’.
@John Ryan: Tunisia.
@John Ryan: Democracy was never a way of life in the Middle East. Democracy was enforced on the new Arab nations by the West. Of course that only applied when the vote went the right way . It had to suit western powers. As for Isreal their democracy supported by the West has created a tale of misery that would have made Nazi Germany proud.
Think I might buy in a consignment of green florescent vests. Only a matter of time here until enough people get fed up of being told about our great recovery while still getting bust level wages & paying exhorbient tax and rent
@Thomas Sheridan: It’ll never happen Thomas….the French have protested violently over the years on a lot of different issues while we roll over & be tickled by our elected officials.
@Pat Quinn: It drives me mad that any time people in this country start protesting an issue, all you hear is “Why aren’t they at work”, “dole scroungers with nothing better to do”, “I’d protest too but I get up early, go to work and pay taxes”. I just don’t understand that mentality. Not everyones job is 9-5 and even if those that are, maybe they’ve booked a half day off that day to attend the protest. Some are students, some retired, etc. Why automatically assume these people don’t work.
“Far-right leader …… and hard-left firebrand………” cmon journal they’re both leaders and equally the same distance from the centre yet one is labelled far the other hard…….marxists have proved to be just as dangerous as nazi’s its about time you eliminated your bias for the former
@Geoff Murphy: is “hard” not a more disparaging term than “far”?? I certainly don’t think those terms portray a favourible bias towards the “hard left”… maybe you’re own bias is in for a checking?
@Paddington C.:No. They are the same and should be labelled the same. My bias is towards the commmon sense centre which is why i commented.
It’s funny, that the French pay the same price fuel as we do, and their insurance is included in fuel. Sure we’re a great bunch of lads altogether.
Waterford Whispers article on this issue was hilarious, check it out .
What a ridiculous headline. The people back the movement, because the French Government backed down.
Good news.
Tax the polluters not the end users. Corporations. Business.
If that’s what it takes for citizens to be heeded in a republic so be it. But it only comes to this when you no longer live in a republic but rather a capitalist dictatorship. Which is where Ireland is now.
Too late, and it is not scrap but delayed as EDF CEO just said that it will have to be paid anyway. Last time they sued the state eventually.
It became a movement of very angry people from every background or political views. They refused to be lead by politicians and want to stop a 2 speed systems where the rich and corporation get away with everything ( like here ). They don’t buy the usual political process and it will be worse soon. They don’t follow process either when it come to protest which is a nightmare for authorities, like asking for permission or when or where they should do it. Add to that a bunch of the usual disruptors only here to disturb and you have a government officially ready to listen… But a bit too late.
No comments from Juan I see. Misinformed sheep.
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