French officials vowed Monday to quickly push tax cuts and a rise in the minimum wage through parliament in a bid to end the anti-government "yellow vest" protests, amid signs the movement is losing steam ahead of the year-end holidays.
At the same time police said they would start removing barricades at roundabouts and on motorways after a month of demonstrations which have at times spiralled into violence while taking a toll on the economy.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said eight people had been killed since the start of the protests in November, and scores of others injured.
"Is there any other social conflict in the past 30 years that has killed so many? I say it clearly: That's enough," Castaner said while visiting officers outside Paris on Monday.
"Roundabouts have been evacuated, and we're going to continue to do so," Castaner said, adding that "we can't continue to paralyse the French economy".
Around 66,000 people took part in protests nationwide on Saturday, roughly half the numbers the week before, with far less violence and vandalism in Paris and other cities than in previous demonstrations.
President Emmanuel Macron announced a series of concessions last week, including a 100-euro increase for five million minimum wage earners, the removal of a planned tax increase for a majority of pensioners, and tax-free overtime pay for all workers.
The concessions will be discussed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday before being brought to the National Assembly and Senate for votes before Christmas.
"We have made mistakes. We haven't listened enough to the French people," Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told the financial newspaper Les Echos in an interview published Monday.
- 'We have to re-mobilise' -
Philippe acknowledged that the concessions, worth some 10 billion euros ($11.3 billion), would mean France's deficit would breach the EU-mandated three precent limit of GDP next year.
"But we are careful with government spending, and we are taking a series of measures touching on businesses and spending worth some four billion euros. That should allow us to hold the deficit at about 3.2 percent for 2019," instead of the original 2.8 percent goal, he said.
A planned reduction in the corporate income tax rate, for example, will be restricted next year to companies with a turnover of less than 250 million euros.
And Philippe said he was ready to consider Swiss-style citizen referendums, a key demand of many protesters from rural and small-town France who say officials in Paris fail to take their needs into account.
"I don't see how we could be against the principle of it. Referendums can be a good tool in a democracy, but not on every issue or under whatever circumstances," he said.
But many of the yellow vests, so-called for the high-visibility jackets drivers are required to keep in their cars, have vowed to press on with the protests.
Two more motorway toll stations were set on fire overnight in southern France, near Beziers and Manosque, officials said.
"Unplug your TV and put on your vest!" a protester sings in a viral video clip showing demonstrators at a roundabout in Montbard, eastern France, on Saturday.
"I was sick and tired of seeing in the media that 'the movement is waning'," the video's author, a 28-year-old florist named Antonin Froidevaux, told AFP on Monday.
"We have to re-mobilise," he said.
- Economic toll -
Many businesses fear unhappy holidays after the weeks of supply disruptions as well as smashed store windows, burned cars and running clashes with police by protesters in Paris and other cities.
Scores of Paris shops were again boarded up and closed on Saturday as fears of renewed violence kept locals and tourists away, though the protests were much calmer than in previous weeks.
The National Council of Shopping Centres warned Monday of a two billion euro revenue shortfall in the crucial pre-Christmas period after five straight Saturdays of protests.
And Bordeaux wine producers are bracing for a sharp decline in year-end sales because of the "exceptional" impact of the protests.
"Wine is not a necessity," Allan Sichel, president of Bordeaux's CIVB industry body, said at its general assembly Monday.
"We won't be getting a year-end boost," he predicted.
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French officials vowed Monday to quickly push tax cuts and a rise in the minimum wage through parliament in a bid to end the anti-government “yellow vest” protests, amid signs the movement is losing steam ahead of the year-end holidays.
At the same time police said they would start removing barricades at roundabouts and on motorways after a month of demonstrations which have at times spiralled into violence while taking a toll on the economy.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said eight people had been killed since the start of the protests in November, and scores of others injured.
“Is there any other social conflict in the past 30 years that has killed so many? I say it clearly: That’s enough,” Castaner said while visiting officers outside Paris on Monday.
“Roundabouts have been evacuated, and we’re going to continue to do so,” Castaner said, adding that “we can’t continue to paralyse the French economy”.
Around 66,000 people took part in protests nationwide on Saturday, roughly half the numbers the week before, with far less violence and vandalism in Paris and other cities than in previous demonstrations.
President Emmanuel Macron announced a series of concessions last week, including a 100-euro increase for five million minimum wage earners, the removal of a planned tax increase for a majority of pensioners, and tax-free overtime pay for all workers.
The concessions will be discussed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday before being brought to the National Assembly and Senate for votes before Christmas.
“We have made mistakes. We haven’t listened enough to the French people,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told the financial newspaper Les Echos in an interview published Monday.
– ‘We have to re-mobilise’ –
Philippe acknowledged that the concessions, worth some 10 billion euros ($11.3 billion), would mean France’s deficit would breach the EU-mandated three precent limit of GDP next year.
“But we are careful with government spending, and we are taking a series of measures touching on businesses and spending worth some four billion euros. That should allow us to hold the deficit at about 3.2 percent for 2019,” instead of the original 2.8 percent goal, he said.
A planned reduction in the corporate income tax rate, for example, will be restricted next year to companies with a turnover of less than 250 million euros.
And Philippe said he was ready to consider Swiss-style citizen referendums, a key demand of many protesters from rural and small-town France who say officials in Paris fail to take their needs into account.
“I don’t see how we could be against the principle of it. Referendums can be a good tool in a democracy, but not on every issue or under whatever circumstances,” he said.
But many of the yellow vests, so-called for the high-visibility jackets drivers are required to keep in their cars, have vowed to press on with the protests.
Two more motorway toll stations were set on fire overnight in southern France, near Beziers and Manosque, officials said.
“Unplug your TV and put on your vest!” a protester sings in a viral video clip showing demonstrators at a roundabout in Montbard, eastern France, on Saturday.
“I was sick and tired of seeing in the media that ‘the movement is waning’,” the video’s author, a 28-year-old florist named Antonin Froidevaux, told AFP on Monday.
“We have to re-mobilise,” he said.
– Economic toll –
Many businesses fear unhappy holidays after the weeks of supply disruptions as well as smashed store windows, burned cars and running clashes with police by protesters in Paris and other cities.
Scores of Paris shops were again boarded up and closed on Saturday as fears of renewed violence kept locals and tourists away, though the protests were much calmer than in previous weeks.
The National Council of Shopping Centres warned Monday of a two billion euro revenue shortfall in the crucial pre-Christmas period after five straight Saturdays of protests.
And Bordeaux wine producers are bracing for a sharp decline in year-end sales because of the “exceptional” impact of the protests.
“Wine is not a necessity,” Allan Sichel, president of Bordeaux’s CIVB industry body, said at its general assembly Monday.
“We won’t be getting a year-end boost,” he predicted.
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