France’s ‘Yellow Vest’ Protesters Aren’t Against Climate Action
PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron swept into power last year promising to modernize his country and scale back its reliance on fossil fuels. Inspired by the Paris climate accord of 2015, his government quickly unveiled an ambitious policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 75 percent—in part by raising taxes on diesel and gasoline.
This week, Macron’s government suffered its biggest political and symbolic defeat yet, when it said it would scrap a proposed diesel fuel-tax hike from the 2019 budget after weeks of escalating protests. “Yellow vest” demonstrations began with disgruntlement over fuel taxes and have since spiraled into something far more nebulous and powerful, a rising groundswell of economic and class anxiety that the government is hard-pressed to placate. Fresh rallies are expected this weekend, and authorities are bracing for more violence by protesters intent on wreaking havoc in a country with a long tradition of volatile demonstrations.
The situation in France is unique and speaks to the challenges faced by Macron, a revolutionary upstart but something of a political naïf who has struggled to sell his reform agenda to a change-resistant
