Macron pushes for full employment by 2027

French President Emmanuel Macron is seen on a television screen as he delivers his New Year's speech to the nation at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, December 31, 2023. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron takes credit for pushing through sometimes unpopular reforms in 2023 and says he will drive an economic “rearmament” to try to meet his goal of full employment by 2027.

“These past months have been far from the futility that some predicted and that’s good,” Macron said in his traditional New Year’s Eve national address on Sunday, citing both the law that increased the retirement age and the immigration bill adopted last month.