French referendum proposal for ADP privatisation gets 10% of signatures by July 1

The French Constitutional Council said on Monday it had received 10 per cent of the number of signatures required for a proposed referendum on the privatisation the country's main airports group ADP to go ahead. The Council said in a statement that the referendum proposal had received 480,300 signatures online since June 13, of which 97% have been verified. For a referendum, it must collect 4.7 million signatures - a tenth of registered voters in France.

The French government plans to sell all or part of its 50.6 per cent stake in ADP, worth around 8.4 billion euros ($9.51 billion), as part of a drive to divest some state holdings to finance a 10 billion euros innovation fund. The move has been met by a diverse group of opponents who are demanding a referendum and have accused President Emmanuel Macron's government of "flogging the family silver".

ADP shares were down 0.19% by 0925 GMT. ($1 = 0.8831 euros)