Macron proposes to cut French Parl seats by a third; to lift state of Emergency

Macron said the change —which he proposed while running for president — would have "positive effects on the general quality of parliamentary work". The Senate has 348 members, while the lower house National Assembly has 577. "Until now, we were on the wrong track," Macron said, adding: "We preferred rules to initiative." The French leader, elected in May, laid out a series of proposals including a new law that will reduce the number of lawmakers in both houses of parliament by one third. He also proposed that the electoral system be changed to allow more proportional representation "so that all tendencies are fairly represented (in parliament)". Macron said he wanted all the "deep transformations... that our institutions badly need" to be completed within a year. "I want... us to avoid half-measures and cosmetic arrangements," he said.

Macron has said he will lift the country's state of Emergency, imposed in November 2015, later this year. He wanted to "re-establish the freedoms of the French people." "These freedoms are the precondition of the existence of a strong democracy," he said. France has been in a state of emergency since the Paris terror attack which killed 130 people in November 2015. A date wasnot specified.