As anti-reform protests endure, Macron says 'results are here'

PARIS - Amid continued opposition to his efforts to reform the economy, French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday defended his economic and fiscal policy which, he said, started bearing fruit.

"The good news does not come by itself. It comes because we are making reforms... Today we are the most attractive country in terms of productive investment," Macron said.

"The results are here. Over the past two and a half years, we have created over 500,000 jobs, and for the past eight months, we have been creating jobs in industry," he added during a visit to the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca's site in Dunkirk, north France, ahead of "Choose France" summit.

For the third year running, France's top official hosted about 200 world's main business leaders to further promote the country's investment assets and draw more flows into domestic market and create more jobs.

According to Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, global executives would announce billion-euro-deals notably in food processing, shipping and finance.

"The third edition of Choose France is a great success... That shows that our policy is giving results. All the decision we have taken allowed France to become the most attractive country in Europe in terms of foreign industrial investments," Le Maire said.

Macron has been pushing, since he took office in 2017, through social and economic reforms to re-shape the French economy and restore the country's image among investors.

Unions angry at Macron' plan to merge 42 pension systems to a point-based universal regime have staged a wave of transport strike and protests since Dec 5, last year.