‘Making French people suffer!’ Macron skewered by French MEP for IGNORING ‘people’s pain’

The young centrist’s reform plans have been called into question after a protest movement against rising fuel prices ballooned into a wider revolt against his tough economic policies. Mr Bay, a senior member of France’s ultranationalist Rassemblement national party, told Europe 1 radio: “His policies and political choices are making French people suffer — they have been suffering for more than 18 months.

“We have a President of the Republic who is turning a deaf ear to the suffering and anger of his own people.

“Emmanuel Macron is totally incapable of listening to what the people are trying to tell him.

“We are under the yoke of a president who cannot hear the people’s pain.”

Mr Bay also accused Mr Macron of being an aggressive leader with a tendency to “engage in controversy”.

He added: “Mr Macron and his government spread chaos and disorder by insulting and pouring scorn over the yellow vest protest movement.”

Driven by anger over a perceived squeeze on household income and high fuel prices, the citizen-led movement has shaken Mr Macron’s presidency after the spontaneous protests gave way to violent anti-government riots in early December.

Yellow vests have argued that the centrist President’s economic policies and reforms favour France’s moneyed urban elite, and hurt the poorer rural working class.

They have also accused him of being an arrogant and out of touch “President of the rich”.

The yellow vest protests — named after the high-visibility jackets all French drivers must carry in their cars in case of an emergency — have been concentrated on Saturdays, after first erupting on November 17.

The demonstrations — 18 months into Mr Macron’s five-year term — are expected to rumble on into January despite his attempts to quell them, including his scrapping planned fuel tax hikes and promising wage rises for the poorest workers and tax cuts for pensioners.

But the grassroots movement has also put the brakes on Mr Macron’s bid to reshape the economy.

In measures that are likely to cost some 10 billion to state coffers, Mr Macron said people on the minimum wage would see their salaries rise by 100 euros (£90) a month in 2019 without extra costs to employers.

The measures are also set to push France back over the EU deficit limit of 3 percent of national output and tarnish Mr Macron’s reformist credentials.

The young leader, for his part, pledged in his televised New Year message on Monday to press ahead with his reform agenda in 2019, despite the widespread discontent that has challenged his government and dented his approval ratings.

He said: “Promised overhauls of France’s unemployment benefits, civil service and public pensions will be undertaken in the coming year.

“In recent years, we’ve engaged in a blatant denial of reality. We can’t work less, earn more, cut taxes and increase spending.”

Mr Macron’s popularity rating is at the lowest level recorded in modern French history, according to French media reports.

It stood at just 24 percent in late December compared to 47 percent a year earlier, an aggregate of polls by le Journal du dimanche published on Sunday showed.