France’s Macron sets course for rapid changes this year

PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron has urged his ministers to rapidly push on with measures to reform the country’s economy, security apparatus and immigration framework.

Following the first meeting of Macron’s cabinet this year, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the government has “a lot on our plate.”

Top of the agenda in the first half of the year is a bill to address France’s high unemployment through better training of jobless workers and sanctions.

Macron’s government is also planning a strategic review of the French military, a bill to get a better handle on what’s going on with immigration into the country and measures to combat violence against women.

Macron is set to give a speech to journalists later that day outlining his government’s agenda.