French football clubs postpone strike over 75 per cent tax
The French Employers' Union of Professional Football Clubs (UCPF), has announced that they will postpone a strike planned for the end of November, in reaction to the French government's 75 per cent tax rate on those earning earning over one million euros.
Matches scheduled for 29 November and 2 December will now go ahead.
However, UCPF president, Jean-Pierre Louvel insisted that the strike was "not cancelled" and may still take place if "negotiations on the 75 per cent tax fail."
Last month the UCPF met with President Francois Hollande to lobby against the tax but failed to convince the President to back down. The clubs have said the tax, involving 120 players and 14 clubs, could cost them as much as €40m and have said it may lead to the "the death of French football."
France's political leaders have a radically different view from the representatives of French football over what is fair when it comes to taxes. Speaking to Russian newspaper Kommersant, the French prime minister, Jean-Marc Aryault, said:
The French do not understand why football clubs would have been exempt from participation in a common cause. This extraordinary effort – contribution to the restoration of the situation of the country.
Our government has decided to proceed with the recovery of France, not for idle pleasure, but because it is the only way to permanently preserve its values, its ideas, its model. And we will not quit from this path.