Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Ticker

Macron raises minimum wage to please 'Yellow Vest' protesters

French president Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday a €100 per month increase in the minimum wage from 2019 and cancelled an increase in social contributions for pensioners earning less than €2,000 monthly, in a major concession to the so-called 'Yellow Vest' protests. "The effort we asked for was too big and was not fair," Macron admitted in a 13-minute TV address from the Elysee Palace.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us