French President Emmanuel Macron walks through the Galerie des Bustes (Busts Gallery) to access the Versailles Palace's hemicycle for a special congress gathering both houses of parliament (National Assembly and Senate), near Paris, France, July 3, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

"The last 10 years have been cruel for Europe. We have managed crises but we have lost our way," Macron said.

"I firmly believe in Europe, but I don't find this scepticism unjustified."

Macron, whose centrist platform has routed both the traditional rightist and leftist parties of government, is not the first French leader to convene a so-called Congress of both houses, though past presidents have tended to use it in times of crisis or for constitutional reforms.

Macron's aides had said that, by bringing parliament's 925 lawmakers to the 17th century palace built outside Paris by Louis XIV - the 'Sun King' - the president was seeking to restore old-fashioned grandeur to the role.

Reuters