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Government warns French strike threatens recovery
AFP - Tuesday, October 26
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PARIS (AFP) - – President Nicolas Sarkozy's government warned Monday that strikes against pension reform have cost the French economy up to three billion euros, as cracks appeared in a trade union fuel blockade.
In a tactical victory for Sarkozy, workers at three of France's refineries voted to return to work and police were able to clear protesters blocking all 219 fuel depots not attached to the nine refining sites still on strike.
In a possible sign of further easing, the leader of the Marseille region, Eugene Castelli, said waste collectors would end their two-week strike Tuesday in France's second city where 10,000 tonnes of refuse is lying uncollected.
Lawmakers are expected to sign a bill increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 this week but trade unions have called another strike for Thursday and ongoing protests around the country have triggered fuel shortages.
"Today, we shouldn't be weighing down this recovery with campaigns that are painful for the French economy and very painful for a certain number of small- and medium-sized businesses," warned Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.
Speaking to Europe 1 radio, Lagarde estimated that the strikes were costing the economy between 200 and 400 million euros per day.
An official in her ministry told the pro-government daily Le Figaro that this figure applies to each in a series of eight one-day stoppages, for a total bill of 1.6 to 3.2 billion euros (2.25 to five billion dollars).
Lagarde also warned that images broadcast around the world of demonstrators clashing with riot police and of industrial sites blocked by protesters had cost France dear in terms of its international image for investors.
"It's the attractiveness of our territory that's at stake when we see pictures like that," she complained, adding that strikes at refineries and fuel depots were also taking a toll.
"It's obvious that the petrochemical sector in particular, which needs large supplies of hydrocarbons, is suffering," she said.
The government also sounded a positive note on the fuel supply situation, with Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo saying 80 percent of petrol stations would be operating normally on Tuesday, up from about 75 percent on Monday.
"(Tuesday) will be the best since the start of the crisis," Borloo said, while acknowledging hardest-hit areas including the Paris region would experience difficulties.
The Senate approved Sarkozy's fiercely-contested pensions bill on Friday and the versions passed by the lower and upper house were reconciled on Monday, opening the way for it to be formally voted into law by Wednesday.
Sarkozy's supporters hoped that the near-inevitability of the law passing, and the advent of this week's half-term school holidays, would see the protest movement begin to fade away over the coming days.
But trade unions remain defiant and have called more strikes and rallies.
On Tuesday, students plan to hold a day of protests at their universities and on Thursday labour leaders have called for their ninth one-day stoppage.
This will be repeated on November 6 if Sarkozy does not withdraw the law or open negotiations but there seems little chance of that, with the president's camp describing its passage as "a victory for France and the French".
Sarkozy hopes that if he faces down the protests and pushes through an unpopular reform he will restore his image as a strong leader among right-wing voters and launch a fight back ahead of his re-election battle in 2012.
So far, however, there is little sign of that, with weekend opinion polls showing him more unpopular than ever -- his personal approval rating fell below 30 percent for the first time in an IFOP survey.
Sarkozy defends the measure as "inevitable" in the face of France's rapidly ageing population and burgeoning budget deficit but opponents accuse him of making workers pay while protecting the rich and the world of finance.
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