Lorry drivers have added their weight to the industrial mayhem gripping France by slowing down motorway traffic or by blocking key roads. After days of rail disruption, unions are putting on the pressure before Wednesday’s Senate vote on President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unpopular pension reforms. He is refusing to back down over a two-year retirement age hike, but so too are the unions.
Didier Le Reste of the CGT union warned of more strike action.
“The start of the week will see a widening of the strike, with more sustained action in sectors such as road transport, energy, postal and telecommunications and public service and commerce,” he said.
Fears that the two major airports in Paris could run out of fuel in the next 48 hours have been dispelled by the government despite blockades at France’s 12 refineries. However supply shortages could hit elsewhere by mid-week with depots in the south west already depleted by an unrelated stoppage.
French Prime Minister François Fillon said:
“The right to strike is not the right to prevent access to a fuel depot. That is an action that is illegal. Nor is it the right to prevent access to the workplace to those who want to work.”
Tuesday could be the government’s make-or-break day with more street protests planned. Unions say that three million people took part in Saturday’s nationwide marches although the government maintains turnout was lower than previous rallies.
Eurostar hit by rail strike in Belgium
Industrial action by Belgian rail workers is set to disrupt Eurostar and Thalys services to and via Brussels.
A 24-hour strike which began at 10pm last night means high-speed trains linking the Belgian capital with London, Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne are being cancelled.
Stranded passengers were not happy.
“There is always something up with the trains and now we have strikes,” said one stranded passenger. “We are already in an economic crisis and all that. I understand, but it is always us people who have to suffer for this.”
“There is always something up with the trains and now we have strikes,” said one stranded passenger. “We are already in an economic crisis and all that. I understand, but it is always us people who have to suffer for this.”
Another said: “I know there are problems everywhere, but I don’t think this strike is going to resolve anything. It is a pain for all the people travelling and I don’t think this will change anything.”
The dispute is over changes to the Belgian network freight division. However Eurostar has asked passengers from Brussels to put off unnecessary trips, stressing that its Brussels-bound trains would stop at Lille, with only a limited coach service offered to complete journeys. Services between Britain and Paris are operating normally.
Merkel: German multiculturalism has failed
Germany’s attempt to create a multicultural society has been a total failure, Chancellor Angela Merkel told young members of her Christian Democrat party on Saturday.
Her comments follow a number of anti-immigrant remarks made by mainstream German politicians.
“This multicultural approach – saying that we simply live side by side and are happy about each other – this approach has utterly failed,” Merkel said in an address to a CDU youth conference.
The chancellor stressed that immigrants living in Germany needed to do more to integrate, including learning to speak German.
“However, we should not give the impression that those who don’t speak German immediately or who were not raised speaking German are not welcome here. That would do great damage to our country,” she said.
The immigration debate has intensified in Germany over the past few months.
Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Democrats’ Bavarian sister party, recently declared multiculturalism dead.
Former German central banker Thilo Sarrazin was forced to resign over a book he wrote in which he accused Muslim immigrants of lowering the intelligence of German society.
Brazil's Green stay neutral in presidential race
Brazil’s Green Party and their third placed candidate Marina Silva have opted to remain neutral ahead of the country’s presidential runoff at the end of the month.
Silva said that by maintaining an impartial stance, the Greens “would exert more influence in national debates”.
The news comes as a blow to Dilma Rousseff who, along with her rival for the top job Jose Serra, had been courting Silva’s backing.
The contest between the two has become increasingly tight since the first-round presidential poll, with both candidates pledging to continue market-friendly economic policies and social welfare programmes.
But Silva, who had been seen as a potential kingmaker, has criticised Rousseff and Serra for their aggressive campaigning tone and their failure to promote environmental issues.
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