"No country can move forward if it doesn't listen to the legitimate anger of its people, an anger which is expressed everywhere in Europe," Macron told reporters ahead of an European Union summit in Brussels.

"I will never carry out the European project, in which I believe, against aspirations I consider as legitimate. I think they can be reconciled and that's what we're trying to do," he added.

The tax breaks and other measures he is offering to appease the yellow vest protestors are likely to push France's budget deficit above the European Commission threshold of three percent of GDP.