The battle is not won against unemployment, and driving through labor reforms aimed at delivering jobs is more important than presidential popularity, French president François Hollande said Tuesday, reports the Daily Star Lebanon.
Hollande is deeply unpopular with the French electorate as his government pushes through labor reforms aimed at making hiring and firing people easier.
The reforms have split his Socialist Party and drawn protesters onto the streets.
Hollande has said he will decide at the end of this year whether to stand for re-election in about 12 months time, staking his future on whether his current program can bring down unemployment, stuck stubbornly at above 10 percent
"It takes time for those reforms to take effect," he told Europe 1 Radio in an interview.
"I am trying to do what the country should expect from a head of state... That means do reforms even if they are difficult... even if they are unpopular. I prefer people to have an image of a president who has conducted reforms, even though unpopular, rather than a president who has done nothing."
Read more of this Reuters report published by the Daily Star Lebanon.