About 1,000 gas stations across France have run out of fuel because of nationwide strikes that are affecting transportation, Alexandre de Benoist, a Union of Independent Oil Importers official, told CNN Monday.
The service stations are out of fuel because striking workers are blocking access to French oil refineries and oil depots, de Benoist said.
The problem is not a lack of fuel, he added, saying: “There is enough fuel in stock for several weeks.”
But French unions say production has stopped at all 12 of the nation’s refineries.
French workers began their latest round of nationwide strikes a week ago, protesting against government plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and institute other pension reforms.
The government, which says France can no longer afford the earlier retirement payments, has shown no sign of backing down.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Sunday night he would “not let the French economy be choked by a blockade of fuel.
“There will not be a shortage because we are going to make the necessary decisions… to ensure that this country is not blocked,” he said on TF1 television.
French drivers lined up to fill their cars on Friday, fearing shortages.
Students demonstrated in sympathy with the strikers Monday, with 261 high schools in “a state of disruption,” the Ministry of Education said.
Half the flights from Paris’s Orly airport will be canceled Tuesday because of the strikes, and 30 percent of flights from other airports in the city will be canceled, the French aviation authority announced Monday.
More demonstrations are scheduled for Tuesday.
Belgium was also hit by strikes Monday, forcing the cancellation of high-speed Eurostar trains to the capital Brussels from Paris and London, England. A very limited bus service was scheduled to operate between Brussels and Lille, France, Eurostar said.
Protesters in France on Saturday formed a line stretching two miles long near the historic Bastille Square in Paris, waving banners and shouting insults against the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, CNN’s Jim Bittermann reported.
France’s Interior Ministry said some 825,000 protesters turned out nationwide, while labor unions — who oppose upping the retirement age — said 3.5 million protesters attended the more than 200 demonstrations across the country Saturday.
Figures for Monday are not yet available.
Emotions ran high in France as the pension debacle continued to pit the government against French unions. Analysts say pension reform will likely be a defining moment in Sarkozy’s presidency.
Despite repeated national strikes over the controversial proposal, France’s National Assembly on Wednesday approved Sarkozy’s pension reform bill which would raise the national retirement age.
The proposal passed 329 to 233, but still must pass the Senate to become law.
The Senate is expected to vote October 20.
Only two of the refineries in France were in full production Saturday, according to the Union of French Petroleum Industries.
But French Finance Minister Christine Laguarde told RTL radio in an interview Saturday that the country has several weeks worth of fuel stocks, saying “the government confirms there is no shortage.”
The work stoppage at the refineries had a direct effect on the two main Paris airports, Orly and Charles de Gaulle.
Both are supplied by a pipeline that comes directly from refineries that were shut down Friday, according to Trapil, the company that owns the line.
But a French transport ministry spokesman told CNN late Saturday that the pipeline supplying fuel to the airports has been reopened and is operating normally.
While more than a dozen unions and federations have called for workers to strike, not everyone walked off the job.
Officials at the Ministry of Education, for example, said only 30 percent of its sector was affected.
Workers from both the public and private sectors are on strike, including those in transportation, education, justice, hospitals, media and banking.
The strikes have also led to a reduction in train services throughout France.
Blasting Sarkozy during a CNN interview Saturday, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe accused the French president of “arrogance.”
“It’s three years this has been going on … three years of stupidity on stupidity … arrogance on arrogance .. even verbal violence on his part against some categories of French citizens,” said Delanoe.
But Sarkozy insists the changes are needed because rising life expectancy increases the financial burden on the pension system.
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(Source: CNN)
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One Response
President Sarkozy must break the unions in France. Retirement in USA 67 Retirement in Britain going to 67
Retirement in France 60 and they are crying about going to 62. They should go also to 67. Working people are losing more and more and more of the salary to pay unpayable benefits. How much can you charge for a train ticket. Howmuch can you raise bus fare. People need to have money to rent or own a property and not take 40 to 60 percent for taxes. I am 55 and will retire at 65 and if they raise it to 70 I will retire than and only than. Boruch Hashem we live longer and are healthy to work and we should. When the social secuirty system was set up in the USA retirement was at 65 and the average man lived to 58. Nobody thought that men would live to 80. Originally they thought you will never collect and now people want to collect 15 years. Do you know how much of the new car you drive goes into benefits after retirement such as salary and insurance. Find out. Findo out how much your state is paying in retirment benefits and how many years you have to work. In California you can retire at 50 with 3 percent per year of work; so you at 50 can retire if you worked from 20 with 90% of your last [repeat last] year’s pay. If you are were making $100,000 you get $90,000 for the rest of your life.If you live to 80 you work 30 years and collect 30 years. Can we afford such things????????????????????????