PARIS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- In an hour-long televised address, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday refused to bow to streets' call to change track to push through energy transition.
"We must not change course, because the policy direction is right and necessary" because "the longer we wait, the worse the effects of climate change will be," said the president.
But he said that he would listen to the public and change the way of government work.
"We need to change how we work because a number of our citizens feel this policy course is imposed on them from above," he said.
In this context, the president proposed to review the rate of tax on diesel and petrol every three months to take into account changes in global prices, in an attempt to avert a wave of demonstrations that led to a sharp fall in his approval ratings.
"We need a way of working that makes this tax more intelligent," he said.
In late 2017, the National Assembly, where Macron enjoys a large majority, approved an energy bill aimed at rising domestic carbon tax to 39 euros (44.07 U.S. dollars) this year, 47.5 euros in 2019 and 100 euros by 2030 as part of energy transition.
These higher taxes started biting and ignited social roar as oil prices surged recent months.
For more than a week, protestors have blocked motorways, obstructed access to fuel depots, shopping centers and some factories, in a show of growing public disenchantment with the liberal head of state's reforms to reshape the eurozone's leading powerhouse.
Dubbed "Yellow Vests" movement, the latest anti-Macron action, was created on social media after several groups have called for blockades and go-slow operations across French cities to oppose the planned fuel tax and the increase in diesel's price, the most commonly used car fuel in France.
The protests drew 282,000 on Nov. 17 and 106,000 last Saturday across French cities.
The president said in his speech that his ecology minister would meet representatives of the "Yellow Vests" movement later in the day. (1 euro = 1.3 U.S. dollar)
