French President Francois Hollande faced his first serious public
backlash after up to 50,000 lined the streets of Paris on Sunday (30
September) in protest against his €37 billion austerity budget.
Organisers of the event, which brought together around 60 left-wing groups, claimed that 50,000 protestors took to the streets to denounce the cuts programme.
"Today is the day the French people launch a movement against the politics of austerity," said the Front de Gauche president, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who finished fourth in the Presidential elections.
On Tuesday (2 October) deputies in the National Assembly will debate the fiscal compact, with a number of members from the ruling Socialist and Green parties expected to defy the government's majority.
French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault accused the protesters of jeopardising the French economy and the stability of the euro. Opposing the fiscal compact would “risk aggravating the crisis”, he said, adding that “the ambiguity of saying 'non' is also something that could lead to the end of the euro."
The protest came days after President Hollande unveiled a package of spending cuts and tax hikes to plug a €37 billion hole in the country's public finances. The package is supposed to reduce France's budget deficit to 3 percent in 2013 from 4.5 percent this year, bringing in €30 billion for the treasury.
Read more: http://euobserver.com/news/117711
Organisers of the event, which brought together around 60 left-wing groups, claimed that 50,000 protestors took to the streets to denounce the cuts programme.
"Today is the day the French people launch a movement against the politics of austerity," said the Front de Gauche president, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who finished fourth in the Presidential elections.
On Tuesday (2 October) deputies in the National Assembly will debate the fiscal compact, with a number of members from the ruling Socialist and Green parties expected to defy the government's majority.
French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault accused the protesters of jeopardising the French economy and the stability of the euro. Opposing the fiscal compact would “risk aggravating the crisis”, he said, adding that “the ambiguity of saying 'non' is also something that could lead to the end of the euro."
The protest came days after President Hollande unveiled a package of spending cuts and tax hikes to plug a €37 billion hole in the country's public finances. The package is supposed to reduce France's budget deficit to 3 percent in 2013 from 4.5 percent this year, bringing in €30 billion for the treasury.
Read more: http://euobserver.com/news/117711
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