Rail Reform Is Macron's Biggest Test

The government of French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced an ambitious effort to reform the SNCF, the national railway operator. It’s an endeavor that puts Macron on a straight collision course with France’s most obstreperous unions. This is exactly the sort of direct confrontation that Macron has thus far avoided in his attempts to reform France’s sluggish economy. If the actions match the talk, it is a highly welcome development.

The news came as a surprise to most people. It was just last week that Jean-Cyril Spinetta, a senior executive for state-owned companies such as Air France and Areva, presented a government-commissioned report on France’s national railway strategy. In France, commissioning a white paper on some hot-button issue from a grandee normally signals a first-class burial of the subject. Instead, just one week later Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced a reform agenda taking on most of the report’s proposals. Union consultations are due to start next week, with a tight two-month deadline and the warning that the government will unilaterally pass reforms by decree if it cannot get an agreement. The move amounts to a declaration of war on railway unions.