PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has decided to scrap a 3-billion euro (£2.6 billion) shopping and leisure complex project that French retail group Auchan and Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda planned to build just outside Paris, the Elysee Palace said on Thursday.
The "EuropaCity" project, which was to be located between the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Le Bourget airports north of Paris, included features such as a circus and an indoor ski slope as well as shops and restaurants, and was supposed to open in 2027.
But the plans met with fierce opposition from environmentalists who argued that it would have destroyed one of the few large natural areas close to Paris.
"It was an outdated project, out of sync with our citizens' aspirations. It stopped matching the way people consume today and tomorrow", the French presidency said.
Ceetrus the property unit of Auchan Holding, which is in charge of the Europa City project, was not immediately available for comment.
It is the second time that Macron has dropped plans for a big construction project. Early 2018, he decided against the planned Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport near Nantes in western France.
The 580 million euro airport project had been in the planning stages for decades, but was blocked by environmentalists who occupied the site.
Macron has been a supporter of the fight against climate change since his election in 2017, with promises to "make our planet great again". But his critics say that at home he has done little to address global warming and shied away from unpopular measures that would reduce carbon emissions.
Just over a year ago, he dropped a planned fuel tax increase following weeks of violent protests by the "yellow vest" movement.
(Reporting by Marine Pennetier; Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by GV De Clercq and Jane Merriman)
