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     Sakkineni Kurra Bewarse Username: Sakkineni Post Number: 3427 Registered: 04-2012 Posted From: 216.82.182.34 Rating: N/A |
CLIMATE CHANGE Macron says the fuel tax increases are part of his effort to combat climate change, wanting to persuade French drivers to exchange diesel-fuelled cars for less polluting models. He said on Saturday he would not deviate from his policy goals. As governments from around the world began a two-week conference in Poland to try to pin down measures to avert the most damaging consequences of global warming, the protests highlighted how costly some of those actions are likely to be. Christophe Chalencon, one of around eight semi-official spokespeople for the “yellow vests”, told BFM TV he would not enter talks only to “negotiate over peanuts”. The hitherto uncompromising response of Macron, a former investment banker, has only reinforced a view among the hard-pressed middle-class and blue-collar workers that he is part of an urban elite contemptuous of their world. The anti-establishment anger spurring the yellow vests on could spell trouble for Macron in next year’s European elections. These are traditionally fertile ground for the far-right, led by Marine Le Pen, which already leads surveys of voting intentions. Saturday’s unrest was the worst in central Paris since a student uprising five decades ago. At times, riot police appeared overwhelmed. The Arc de Triomphe, a unifying national monument that houses the tomb of the unknown soldier, was defaced, and a bust of national symbol Marianne was smashed. |