France, March 17 -- President Emmanuel Macron met staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, promising a bigger budget and major hiring spree in an effort to allay fears about the reform of France's vast diplomatic corps.

The president promised 700 new jobs and a 20 percent budget boost to what is the world's third-largest diplomatic apparatus, after the United States and China.

"I want to see our diplomatic service completely rearmed," the president said, perhaps unfortunately in the light of the conflict in Ukraine.

The Quai d'Orsay, where the ministry has its sumptuous central Paris headquarters, will have an annual budget of nearly 8 billion euros by 2027, Macron promised.

The presidential announcement came the day afte...