Editorial Board
The Macron Revolution Should Be About Growth
The budget deficit is hardly France's biggest problem. So why is the government wasting precious political capital on the issue?
It took brave, radical thinking for President Emmanuel Macron to transform French politics so completely. Reforming the French economy will demand no less focus and ambition.
To judge by the speech he gave at Versailles last week, there'll be no lack of ambition: It was positively regal. Focus, though, was less apparent. Once he turns to the task of governing, he needs to make structural economic reform -- especially to France's broken labor market -- his overriding priority. Instead, France's new government is now intent on spending precious political capital and energies on a different goal: deficit reduction.