Macron’s Government Plans Politically Risky Welfare Cuts

  • Attal says aim is to curb extent of unemployment benefits
  • French prime minister expects to implement reforms in fall

Gabriel Attal and Emmanuel Macron 

Photographer: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
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French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal pledged more cuts to unemployment welfare, risking a backlash ahead of European elections as he seeks to tame a runaway budget deficit and press on with President Emmanuel Macron’s economic-reform agenda.

The government will instruct businesses and labor unions that manage France’s unemployment insurance to negotiate the details of changes to be implemented in the fall, Attal said in an interview on TF1 television.