France's Macron pledges 15-billion-euro green push after vote rout

(Reuters, 29 Jun 2020) The move comes after the Greens won control of big cities including Lyon, Bordeaux and Strasbourg in Sunday's election.

French President Emmanuel Macron promised 15 billion euros ($16.9 billion) of new funding on Monday to speed up moves to a greener economy, a day after the Greens trounced his party and took control of big cities in local elections.

Macron said he would move faster on environment-friendly policymaking and that he was ready to call a referendum in 2021 on revising the constitution to include climate goals if parliament allowed it. But he stopped short of promising one.

Macron was responding to proposals by a Citizens' Climate Council he set up in response to the "yellow vest" movement that sprang up as a backlash against the cost of living but became a rebellion against him and his pro-business reform agenda.