Macron ‘got it wrong on notaires’

NOTAIRES have won a partial victory in their fight against government plans to change their payments for certain procedures as the economy minister said he “got it wrong”.

Emmanuel Macron said he will “amend” his proposals substantially, however, after telling parliament he had received “death threats” from some members of the legal profession opposed to his changes.

But he said he was still determined to cut costs.

He admitted that his chosen method - setting upper and lower levels for fees in a bid to increase competition and allow young notaires, huissiers and other legal professionals to get a start - had become over-complicated with hundreds of different charges for different procedures.

Saying he had “got it wrong” Mr Macron said he had not seen the “perverse” results that would result.

He announced that parliament would get more time to debate his bill for growth and economic activity, increasing the time available from two weeks to three. This will push back the debate on the proposed regional amalgamations.

Some Socialists have joined notaires in attacking the bill, which they say is a “smokescreen” for allowing job cuts by stealth and boosting bosses’ pay.

They point to measures such as cutting the link between a parent company’s profits and those of the failed subsidiary when setting redundancy payments and moves to reduce the tax paid by executives on shareholdings.