French presidential frontrunner Macron promotes "new growth model"
Xinhua, February 25, 2017 Adjust font size:
French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron unveiled his economic roadmap on Friday based on spending, tax cuts, and boosting investment to kickstart the major economic power in Europe over the next five years.
Promoting a "new model of growth," the ex-investment banker pledged "..not to take any additional measures in the summer."
"I want to make our public spending more efficient while funding the change of our growth model," Macron told the business daily Les Echos.
With this aim, he pledged to cut public expenditure by 60 billion euros (63.57 billion U.S. dollars) in order to stick to France's commitments to bring down budget deficit to the eurozone threshold of 3.0 percent.
He said he would also reduce corporate tax to 25 percent from the current 33.3 percent and to slash jobs in the public sector by 120,000 over the next term.
In addition, he proposed a public investment scheme worth 50 billion euros aimed to improve training, financing energy transition and modernizing the country's administrative services.
As for the unemployment issue, the 39-year-old centrist candidate said he wanted to lower the joblessness rate to 7.0 percent by 2022 from its current 9.7 percent.
An Opininway poll released on Friday showed Macron's score had improved by one percentage point to 23 percent of voting intentions. He was followed by Francois Fillon, while far-right candidate Marine Le Pen maintained the lead in the first round with 26 percent.
Macron has never held an elected post. He disclosed his political ambition after creating his own political movement "En Marche" (On the Move) in April last year.
He joined the Socialist government in August 2014 to replace ousted economy minister Arnaud Montebourg. Two years after, he quit his post to focus on his political career.
His election bid has taken a new turn after veteran centrist Francois Bayrou on Wednesday offered to form an alliance with Macron's party to prevent Le Pen from taking power. (1 euro = 1.06 U.S. dollars) Endit