The French president said that condoms will be available in pharmacies for 18 to 25 year-olds in an effort to reduce unwanted pregnancies among young people.
It's a small revolution in the field of contraception, Emmanuel Macron announced at a health debate with young people in Fontaine-le- Comte, a suburb of Poitiers in western France.
The move came after the government began to offer free birth control for women under 25 this year, expanding a scheme targeting under 18 s to make sure young women don't stop taking contraception because they can't afford it.
Condoms are already reimbursed by the national healthcare system if they are prescribed by a doctor or midwife, a measure intended to fight the spread of Aids and other sexually transmitted infections.
The president said we are not very good at this subject, and we are not very good at it. The reality is very different from the theory. It is an area where we need to educate our teachers. The government weighed its response to a rise in Covid cases in the run-up to Christmas, although so far no mask mandates had been reintroduced, as Macron said he was following health ministry guidelines.
As winter approaches, officials are urging people to wear masks in crowded venues and to get Covid vaccine booster shots.