Panic Grips Élysée Palace As Carbon Tax Revolt Grows

President Macron beat a retreat for the second time in two days as farmers, lorry drivers and students joined the tax revolt that is threatening to derail his presidency

After announcing a six-month freeze on fuel duties on Tuesday in an attempt to appease popular anger, Mr Macron backtracked again last night and scrapped next year’s rises altogether.

The climbdown was a further humiliation for his government, which had repeatedly ruled out abandoning the planned fuel tax rises which prompted the yellow-vest movement.

A riot police officer in front of a burning pile of rubbish in Bordeaux REGIS DUVIGNAU/REUTERS

In a sign of the panic besetting his presidency, Mr Macron urged opposition parties, business leaders and unions to join him in an appeal for calm. “We have reasons to fear major violence,” a source at the presidential palace told the AFP news agency.