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Macron says no regrets over Uber talks

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday acknowledged holding discussions with Uber executives when he was economy minister from 2014-2016, saying he was "proud" of it and would do the same again.

Macron says no regrets over Uber talks
France's President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he delivers a speech unveiling plans to build a semiconductor plant near Grenoble. (Photo by Jean-Philippe KSIAZEK / POOL / AFP)

“I’m extremely proud… it’s difficult to create jobs without companies and without entrepreneurs,” the 44-year-old told reporters in southeast France.

“I would do it again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”

The pro-business centrist leader came under fire from opponents on Monday following investigations in Le Monde and The Guardian newspapers which revealed repeated discussions between Macron and Uber over the group’s operations in France.

Le Monde said Macron had been “more than a supporter, almost a partner” to the controversial US-based firm by offering to help  with lobbying efforts to shape legislation and get around restrictive French regulation.

“We are creating a sort of atmosphere in which seeing the heads of companies, in particular foreign ones, is a bad thing. But I acknowledge it completely,” Macron said on the sidelines of an event in Crolles.

“I’ve seen the heads of companies. What a shock! I saw them, it was always official, with my aides, and I’m proud. If they created jobs in France, then I’m super proud of that.”

The newspapers said some of the meetings with Uber executives were not recorded in Macron’s official diary and took place without the knowledge of other members of then Socialist government.

Macron, a former investment banker, took an openly pro-Uber position amid sometimes violent protests against the firm by taxi drivers and criticism from cabinet colleagues.

Macron defended the group for providing employment for people in low-income areas and breaking the monopoly held by taxi companies.

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POLITICS

New Caledonia airport to reopen Monday, curfew reduced: authorities

New Caledonia's main international airport will reopen from Monday after being shut last month during a spate of deadly unrest, the high commission in the French Pacific territory said, adding a curfew would also be reduced.

New Caledonia airport to reopen Monday, curfew reduced: authorities

The commission said Sunday that it had “decided to reopen the airport during the day” and to “push back to 8:00 pm (from 6:00 pm) the start of the curfew as of Monday”.

The measures had been introduced after violence broke out on May 13 over a controversial voting reform that would have allowed long-term residents to participate in local polls.

The archipelago’s Indigenous Kanaks feared the move would dilute their vote, putting hopes for eventually winning independence definitively out of reach.

READ ALSO: Explained: What’s behind the violence on French island of New Caledonia?

Barricades, skirmishes with the police and looting left nine dead and hundreds injured, and inflicted hundreds of millions of euros in damage.

The full resumption of flights at Tontouta airport was made possible by the reopening of an expressway linking it to the capital Noumea that had been blocked by demonstrators, the commission said.

Previously the airport was only handling a small number of flights with special exemptions.

Meanwhile, the curfew, which runs until 6:00 am, was reduced “in light of the improvement in the situation and in order to facilitate the gradual return to normal life”, the commission added.

French President Emmanuel Macron had announced on Wednesday that the voting reform that touched off the unrest would be “suspended” in light of snap parliamentary polls.

Instead he aimed to “give full voice to local dialogue and the restoration of order”, he told reporters.

Although approved by both France’s National Assembly and Senate, the reform had been waiting on a constitutional congress of both houses to become part of the basic law.

Caledonian pro-independence movements had already considered reform dead given Macron’s call for snap elections.

“This should be a time for rebuilding peace and social ties,” the Kanak Liberation Party (Palika) said Wednesday before the announcement.

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