French riot police rushed picket lines to break a blockade of the main fuel refinery supplying Paris on Friday as unions hardened their stance before a vote on President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform due later in the day. Signalling their determination to keep fighting even after a bill raising the retirement age becomes law, the country's six main unions have called for two more days of action on October 28 and November 6 against the unpopular reform.
Unions call two further days of strike action "The protests are not stopping, we just have different views on how to proceed," Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the more radical Force Ouvriere union told RMC radio. "We still think that demonstrating is not enough ... we have to ramp it up ... we need a strong day of public and private sector strikes." The government appeared equally determined.
Police in riot gear wielding shields rushed a blockade and cleared pickets and burning tyres at dawn at Total's Grandpuits oil refinery, which supplies fuel for the Paris area. Scuffles broke out at the refinery south-east of the capital and one person was carried away on a stretcher after being trampled.
Analysts did not expect the strikes to have any lasting impact on sentiment towards French debt. France comfortably sold short-term paper on Thursday though it paid a premium from previous issues on what analysts said may be fleeting concerns over ability to enforce austerity measures. The centre-right government resorted to a special guillotine procedure to speed the reform bill's passage through the Senate, with a vote now due on Friday evening as pressure builds on Sarkozy to end the long-running impasse with the unions ahead of half-term holidays beginning this weekend. The president's popularity ratings are near an all-time low 18 months before a presidential election in which he is widely expected to seek a second term.
In addition to transport disruption, Sarkozy is battling 11-day-old strikes at the country's 12 refineries and fuel depot blockades that Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said forced the closure of one in five petrol stations. Jean-Louis Schilansky head of oil sector lobby UFIP told reporters after a meeting Prime Minister Francois Fillon there was enough fuel to last for several weeks or months by increasing imports and pooling reserves.
The government is aiming to cut the deficit to 6.0 percent of gross domestic product next year based on an economic growth forecast of 2 percent in the first phase of a plan to trim the budget gap to the EU's 3.0 percent limit by 2013. Sarkozy wants the bill - which would raise the minimum age of retirement to 62 from 60 and the maximum age for a full pension to 67 from 65 - passed quickly in the hope that protests will fade once it has become law.
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