ASSESSMENTS

France's Macron Gets to Work

May 30, 2017 | 09:00 GMT

Employees of French telecommunications company SFR take part in a national day of action organized by French unions. Despite their declining membership and fragmentation, French unions still have some potent tools at their disposal.
Employees of French telecommunications company SFR take part in a national day of action organized by French unions. Despite their declining membership and fragmentation, French unions still have some potent tools at their disposal.

(JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images)

Emmanuel Macron won this month's French presidential election on a promise to balance state intervention in the French economy and reforms intended to make it more competitive. His electoral platform included a promise to introduce public investment initiatives worth some 50 billion euros (roughly $56 billion) over the next five years, for example, but it also includes proposals to make labor laws more flexible and to cut public sector spending by 60 billion euros....