French President urges people to 'stop complaining'

During a visit to the village of Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, the hometown of the late President Charles de Gaulle, French President Emmanuel Macron said that de Gaulle's grandson once said the late president's principle was: "You have freedom of speech, but the only thing we should not do is complain."

"I think his point is correct. The country would change if everyone did that. We don't realize how lucky we are. More and more elderly people in our country are in good health,"AFPMacron was quoted as saying yesterday after a pensioner complained that he had only a small pension.

"Those people are not complaining just for fun, but because they are victims of ever-increasing taxes and lack of security," Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front party and Macron's opponent in the 2017 presidential election, responded to the French president's comments on Twitter.

Macron's remarks came a week after the government announced a series of budget cuts. Macron said France was spending too much money on social programs and that the budget for pensions and welfare would continue to shrink in 2019.

The French president is known for his blunt statements. In August, he was criticized by the opposition after saying his people “refuse to change” during a visit to Denmark. He also caused outrage when he called opponents of labor reforms “lazy people”.