French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he would increase the retirement age, cut taxes and further loosen labor market rules if he wins a second term in next month’s election, seeking a mandate to press on with pro-business reforms.
Opinion polls show Macron is likely to win the first round of the election on April 10 and beat any opponent in a run-off on April 24. His longstanding lead has grown in recent weeks, with voters approving of his diplomatic efforts over the Ukraine war.
“We are at a tipping point where we can make a real difference,” Macron told a news conference, highlighting the war on the European Union’s doorstep and the global challenge of climate change.
Stressing his pro-business credentials is not without risk as households feel the squeeze from rising prices, but Macron said he wanted to see through a reshaping of the economy.
Laying out his campaign platform for the first time, he said he would increase the retirement age to 65 from 62, slash taxes by 15 billion euros ($16.55 billion) per year, make some benefits conditional on community work and reform unemployment insurance to push people to get back to work.
“It’s quite normal, especially when you consider the state of public coffers, that we work more,” Macron said.
Macron is a former investment banker who was elected in 2017 on a centrist platform and his policies have veered to the right during his mandate. But he had put some of his planned changes, including the raised pension age, on hold amid a series of crises, including the yellow vest protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.
With economic growth surging and unemployment falling to its current 7.4%, Macron can point to data to show he has rebooted the euro zone’s second-biggest economy since he took office, but he said he wanted to go further.
“The rate of unemployment is at its lowest level for 15 years, the youth unemployment rate is at its lowest level for 40 years … none of these results can be considered enough,” he said. -Agencies
