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Macron Confronts the ‘Mother of All Reforms’
France’s president launches a campaign to free up the labor market.
Philippe Martinez, general secretary of the General Confederation of Labour union, shakes hands with Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee palace in Paris.
Photographer: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
Just past day 50 since he was elected president, Emmanuel Macron is about to take on a problem that has frustrated his predecessors: freeing up France's labor market.
Macron, whose cabinet Wednesday approved a broad outline of changes to the labor code, wants the authority to negotiate the details over the summer with unions and business groups. The government would then introduce the new framework in September by decree, short-circuiting the legislative process.