Doubling of salary of Peugeot boss 'harmful': French finance minister

A decision by PSA Peugeot Citroen to double its chairman's salary to five million euros has sparked angry debate in France.

The doubling of PSA chairman Carlos Tavares' salary has sparked an angry debate in France. AFP PHOTO/Eric Piermont

Carlos Tavares, the chairman of PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe's second biggest carmaker, earned 5.24 million euros in 2015, up from 2.75 million in 2014, company documents showed last week

Mixed reactions

French Finance minister Michel Sapin said the government, which has a 13 per cent stake in the company, asked its representatives to vote against the salary increase.

Sapin told France Inter radio that if the state had a greater share "it would have been blocked." He added that at a time when France's economy is faltering, the increase "is harmful, everyone can see it."

When the salary increase was announced Friday, the CFDT labour union slammed it as a decision which "causes a lot of damage to social cohesion", adding that Peugeot employees had also played a role in turning the company around.

Pierre Gattaz, head of the Medef employers' association, defended the move, saying: "When there is success, it does not shock me that we reward success."

The head of the PSA supervisory board Louis Gallois said the salary increase was "not at all disproportionate".

2,000-euro bonus to employees

Tavares led Peugeot through a restructuring process that moved it back into the black in 2015 with a net profit of 1.2 billion euros.

The company has said it would be paying out an average 2,000-euro bonus to French-based employees as a reward for the strong results.