Disruptions will continue into subsequent week amid nationwide strikes against a pensions reform in France, the French metro and rail services announced on Sunday.
6 Paris metro lines are going to be closed on Monday, the metro service RATP has said, while the country’s rail service will remain “highly disrupted” with 2 out of 5 trains running, and 1 Paris regional train out of 5.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday involved a “truce” within the strikes, which have paralysed France for weeks. “There are moments within the lifetime of a nation when it’s good to watch a truce to respect families”, Macron said during a news conference during a presidential visit to the Ivory Coast, adding he hoped for “common intelligence” on things.
French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has said that the govt was still committed to overhauling the country’s pension system after talks with the heads of trade unions to finish 17 days of strikes.
The head of France’s powerful CGT union, Philippe Martinez, said after the talks on Thursday evening that there was “nothing new” and a “day of action” would now happen on January 9. The reforms could see the retirement age raised from 62 to 64 and end a lucrative pension system for French transport workers, who can currently retire at just over 50.
Meanwhile, protesters took to the streets in huge marches in Paris and other cities, at which workers sang anti-Macron songs and were critical of the reforms.
The transport across France continues to suffer heavy disruptions, including to trains and flights, and therefore the unions mute another general strike on January 9 to protest the changes. Chaos, The state-owned SNCF rail company, has urged passengers to postpone their journeys, saying their services are severely disrupted by the strikes.
More than half train drivers were striking on Friday, the 16th day of the strike. Traffic will remain “very disrupted” on Saturday and Sunday, the SNCF has said, with only half the high-speed trains, 30% of local trains and 20% of Paris regional trains in circulation.
The SNCF has guaranteed that children travelling with the SNCF’s children programme will have seats, it announced on Friday after previous cancellations. The service has allocated 5,000 seats for the youngsters on 14 trains over subsequent days.
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