Drivers are planning blockades and go-slows across France on Nov. 17 to protest against higher fuel prices, which have increased by up to a third in the past year, making Macron’s claim to help hard-working people harder to defend.
In a bid to fight climate change, his government has voted increases in a carbon tax and decided in particular to ramp up the price of diesel, the most commonly used car fuel in France.
But the increases, decided in late 2017 at a time crude oil prices were hovering under $50 per barrel, have become more painful for consumers after oil surged to over $85 last month. The issue has helped drive Macron’s popularity to as low as 21 percent in a poll published last week.
The president, who has launched a seven-day tour of northeastern France, said he has no plan to back down.
"I prefer taxing fuel to taxing labor. People complaining about rising fuel prices are the same ones who complain about pollution and how their children suffer," he told regional newspapers in the area, in an interview published on Monday.