, Columnist
When Burning Cars in Paris Gets You a Tax Freeze
Emmanuel Macron's go-slow approach to changing France is pleasing nobody.
Aux barricades.
Photographer: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
The Macron administration tried playing for time, then it tried talking tough, and now it is trying an olive branch.
On Tuesday, the French government suspended a planned hike in fuel taxes that has triggered weeks of protests from the amorphous “Yellow Jackets” movement. But the increasingly violent protests have already cost President Emmanuel Macron political capital and hurt the economy; it's too soon to say they are over. His future reforms are at risk.