Europe 1 with AFP 9:37 p.m., March 7, 2022
For his first trip as a candidate, to Poissy in the Yvelines, Emmanuel Macron declared that he will not "debate with the other candidates before the first round".
The outgoing president also shared his desire to abolish the charge, and to "improve" aid on gasoline.
Emmanuel Macron warns: he will not participate in any "debate with the other candidates before the first round" of the presidential election.
The outgoing president, who formalized his candidacy last Thursday, estimated on LCI that "no president in office who is representing himself has done so. I do not see why I would do differently", he added on the sidelines of his first trip as a candidate to Poissy, in the Yvelines.
"I prefer the debate with the French, that's what I owe them," said the president-candidate.
The abolition of the fee, like other candidates
The Head of State has also undertaken to abolish the TV license fee and to triple the ceiling of the "Macron bonus" which so far allows companies to pay up to 1,000 euros without charge or tax.
"We will remove the remaining taxes, the fee is part of it," he said during an exchange with 200 residents of Poissy.
According to the head of state, this abolition is "consistent with the abolition of the housing tax", one of the key measures of his campaign in 2017.
Since 2009, the contribution to public broadcasting has been payable by anyone who is subject to housing tax and who owns a television.
Its amount is determined by Parliament and currently stands at 138 euros in mainland France.
This fee is used to finance public sector TV and radio channels, such as France Télévisions, Radio France, Arte or France Médias Monde (France 24, RFI, etc.).
Before Emmanuel Macron, candidates Valérie Pécresse (LR), Marine Le Pen (RN) and Éric Zemmour (Reconquests) announced their intention to abolish the license fee, some of them proposing to privatize part or all of the public media.
Macron promises to "improve" gasoline aid
In addition, Emmanuel Macron announced that government aid on gasoline would be "improved" around a "mileage allowance and inflation allowance approach" to quickly deal with the spike in fuel prices due to the Ukrainian crisis.
"What we need to improve is the support on gasoline," he said.
"There will be a gasoline part", in the "resilience" plan that the government is "in the process of completing", he added.
"It's the president who speaks to you because I can't wait, we have to give visibility for the days to come".
This gasoline part "will reinforce, including by synchronizing, the equivalent of the mileage allowance".
"There will be a supplement that will be made on the gasoline part because it is right and that it must be done. It will be worked around both the mileage allowance and inflation allowance approach", he said. added.
At the end of January, the government announced a 10% increase in the mileage allowance scale.