Macron, Le Pen Slam 'Shocking' Stellantis CEO Pay

French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger in the French presidential vote, Marine Le Pen, on Friday both decried as “shocking” the multimillion-euro payout to the CEO of carmaker Stellantis, Colleen Barry and Angela Charlton reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares’ remuneration package of 19.15 million euros just a year after the company was formed became an issue as Macron and Le Pen campaigned ahead of the April 24 runoff. Polls show purchasing power and inflation are top voter concerns.

Stellantis, formed last year through the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, sought Friday to defend Tavares’ work in turning around the fortunes of the French carmaker — and his pay package.

Stellantis continued to back the package despite a 52.1% to 47.9% vote rejecting it at an annual shareholders’ meeting chaired from the Netherlands, where the company is legally based, on Wednesday. Citing Dutch civil code, it noted that the vote is advisory and not binding.

Macron, a centrist perceived by many left-wing voters as being too pro-business, called the pay package “astronomical” and pushed for a Europe-wide effort to set ceilings on “abusive” executive pay.

“It’s shocking, it’s excessive,” he said Friday on broadcaster France-Info. “People can’t have problems with purchasing power, difficulties, the anguish they’re living with, and see these sums. Otherwise, society will explode.”

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who enjoys support from many working-class voters, said: “Of course it’s shocking, and it’s even more shocking when it is the CEOs who have pushed their society into difficulty.”

On Friday, she told BFM television: “One of the ways to diminish this pay, which is often out of proportion with economic life, is perhaps to allow workers in as shareholders.”

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