Companies affected by wildfires in southern France to receive tax breaks

PARIS - French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Monday announced tax breaks for companies affected by the recent wildfires in Southern France.

Companies of all sizes, most notably in the tourism sector, have seen their activity affected by the severe wildfires that devastated large swathes of the country, he said.

He also said the government has approved a €12 million ($13.91 million) budget to help towns having to relocate people whose homes were destroyed.

Lecornu made the announcements in Merignac, near the village of Le Porge, in southwestern France, where hundreds of homes were destroyed by a megafire last month.

Early on Monday, dozens of people in Le Porge booed Lecornu as he visited the area. Residents have criticised the government's response and accused authorities of prioritising saving wealthier areas.

A gigantic wildfire, with an amplitude not seen in decades, devastated some 50,000 hectares, burned a few hundred houses to the ground and prompted the evacuation of as many as 220,000 people in southwestern France last month.

Wildfires have ripped through Europe this summer after successive severe heatwaves, fuelled by climate change, intensified ​drought and left vegetation tinder-dry.

($1 = 0.8629 euros)

-Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Alexandra Hudson/Reuters