France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, gets back to work

B y september 2017, just months after he was elected for the first time, Emmanuel Macron had already passed controversial decrees designed to loosen up the French labour market. These helped the economy create jobs and bring down unemployment to its lowest level for 14 years, embodying the president’s early reformist zeal. Today, five months after Mr Macron’s re-election, that breezy can-do spirit has faded. The president’s demeanour is often sombre, his mode crisis-management. The question now is whether Mr Macron can revive his reformist vigour and complete unfinished business from his first term.