Macron reveals manifesto, takes aim at lawmakers, pensions

French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron said he would root out government nepotism and inequalities in France's pension system, sell down government stakes in major firms and downsize parliament, as he unveiled a manifesto.

While France's government has traditionally held large stakes in companies of national stature, Macron said he would sell €10 billion worth of shares in groups in which the state does not hold a majority.

The money raised will be put in a "Fund for Industry and Innovation" to finance future projects.

Macron, who last week outlined a broad economic plan mixing tax cuts, a reduction in government jobs and higher investments, said he aimed to smooth out vast differences between the pensions of government employees and those in the private sector, while keeping the pension age at 62.

In contrast with previous French governments' refusal to engage in American-inspired "positive discrimination", Macron also said he would give companies who hire people from 200 designated poor neighborhoods, a €15,000 bonus over three years. He also aims to raise disability and old-age allowances by €100 a month and penalise employers who used too many short-term contracts.

Macron proposed to make it illegal for MPs to employ family members as parliamentary assistants. This measure comes as rival right-wing candidate François Fillon faces accusations that his wife and children held “fake jobs” as parliamentary assistants. The proposal comes one day after Fillon was charged in the scandal.

He will also reduce the number of subjects to be taken in the baccalaureate, a pre-university exam created by Napoleon that costs up to €1.5 billion to organise every year.

In a bid to tackle France’s unemployment, Macron proposed that unemployed individuals would not be able to receive benefits if they turn down more than two job offers, as long as the offers propose starting salaries that are no more than 20% less of their previous salary. He has also called for more government training programs.

Macron said he would also cut by a third the number of lawmakers in both the lower and upper parliamentary houses and by at least a quarter the number of province-level authorities classified as "departments".

The 39-year-old former economy minister has previously been criticised for being too vague on policy.

"The society I want will be both free of constraints and blockages and protective of the weakest," Macron said in the programme, which was presented on Thursday.

Standing as an independent centrist, Macron is tipped by opinion polls to defeat far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a run-off vote in May.