French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen on Friday waded into a heated row about a 19-million-euro pay package given to the head of carmaker Stellantis as top corporate salaries bounced to the forefront of the French election campaign.
Macron, who faces Le Pen in the second round of France's presidential election on April 24, told Franceinfo radio that he was in favour of an EU-wide ceiling for top executives’ pay, describing the Stellantis payout as “shocking and excessive”.
“We need to fight at a European level so that remuneration can’t be excessive,” he said. “We need to set ceilings and have governance for Europe that make these things acceptable. If not, society will explode at any given moment.”
Macron, a former investment banker, has been struggling to shake off the "president of the rich" tag that has dogged him throughout his five years in office. He is now scrambling to reach out to left-wing voters as he heads into a tight run-off with Le Pen.
The far-right candidate still trails the incumbent in the polls, though she has significantly narrowed the gap since she lost a lopsided contest by more than 20 percentage points five years ago.
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In particular, Le Pen's focus on purchasing power during the campaign has given her an edge over Macron in courting low-income workers and households struggling with the rise in food and energy costs.
Debate is currently raging over the 19-million-euro payout for Stellantis chief executive Carlos Tavares for last year, when French carmaker PSA merged with Italian-US rival Fiat Chrysler to form Stellantis, the world’s fourth-biggest carmaker.
Beyond his base salary of two million euros, Tavares is to receive 7.5 million euros in performance-based pay, 2.4 million euros in retirement contributions and a 1.7-million-euro bonus related to the success of the merger. He will also receive 5.6 million euros’ worth of company shares, according to Stellantis.
“These sums are astronomic,” Macron told Franceinfo. “People can’t be facing purchasing power problems (…) and then see these sorts of sums.”
“We need to do what we’ve done with minimum tax rates and the fight against tax evasion. We need to convince our European partners to bring about a reform that will provide a framework for executive pay,” he added.
Wading into the debate, Le Pen also described the Stellantis payout as "shocking", though she ruled out a pay cap. In an interview with BFMTV, she suggested one way to offset such remuneration was to develop staff shareholdings.
“It’s shocking, but less shocking than for others,” she said of Tavares' pay package. She added: “For once he obtained good results”.
The company said in a statement that it does not comment on politicians' positions and said the group had gone from near bankruptcy to a leading position under Tavares' leadership.
It added that it had paid out as much to staff as to shareholders – 1.9 billion euros – and said that Tavares' pay was 90% variable depending on company performance and lower than at rivals GM and Ford.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)
