France needs €17bn to meet Yellow Vests’ demands – Finance Minister Le Maire

The total cost of the measures announced by French President Emmanuel Macron to respond to the demands of the Yellow Vests movement amounted to nearly €17 billion, Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said.

Speaking on Tuesday on France 2, he promised to partially offset the bill by saving money on public spending. Of the €17 billion, ten billion correspond to measures announced by Macron in December.

In response to months of anti-government protests, Macron said last week that he would cut income tax further by €5 billion ($5.6 billion).

“The president has set a principle of which I am the guarantor: each euro of decrease in income tax must be financed by a decrease of one euro in public spending,” Le Maire told LCI television.