PARIS, April 15 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen on Friday called the pay package of Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis’ CEO “shocking” with excessive executive pay now a hot topic in France’s tight-run presidential election.
Just 9 days ahead of a runoff that will determine who will lead the European Union’s second-largest economy for the next five years, opinion polls show Macron is only slightly ahead of Le Pen in a contest that could potentially go either way.
“We’re talking about astronomical sums here … we should put a cap on these, this could work if we act at a European level,” Macron told franceinfo radio.
“People can’t have purchasing power problems, difficulties and anxiety in their lives and see sums like this,” Macron said, adding that otherwise “society going to blow up”.
“Of course it is shocking. It’s even more shocking when it’s a CEO who has put the company in difficulty and gets considerable sums,” she told BFM television, suggesting one way to offset such remuneration was to develop staff shareholdings.
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.
Just over 52% of the company’s shareholders voted on Wednesday against the compensation package in a consultative vote. read more
($1 = 0.9257 euros)
