PARIS (Reuters) – The French government pledged yesterday to restore fuel supplies but unions dug in their heels at strike-hit oil refineries after the Senate approved the pension reform bill at the heart of the dispute.
Despite weeks of protests and strikes that have hit railways and refineries hardest, the flagship reform of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s term is expected to be finally adopted by Wednesday.
On the first day of a 12-day, mid-term school holiday, Transport Minister Domini-que Bussereau assured motorists highway service stations were well stocked but acknowledged shortages elsewhere and urged motorists not to overdo tank refills.
“More and more stations will be getting supplies,” he told Europe 1 radio, saying highway supply levels were “perfect”.
Neither he nor Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, who also sought to reassure in comments to journalists yesterday, ventured to say when things would return to normal, something that Prime Minister Francois Fillon had said last Tuesday would take “four or five days”.
The state railway company SNCF, where rolling strikes have reduced services by as much as 50 percent, announced improved frequency on high-speed links — eight in 10 trains running — for the holiday rush. But SNCF said many other services would be between 50 and 60 per cent of normal levels.
Sarkozy and his centre-right government have refused to back down on a bill that aims to plug a hole in pension funding by raising the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60 and the age at which people qualify for a full pension to 67 from 65.
The bill was rushed past a first hurdle in the National Assembly on Sept. 15 and cleared a second on Friday when the government used a special procedure to bring the bill to a quick vote in the Senate where it passed.
Final adoption is due next week, when the bill will be put to a panel representing both houses of parliament to put finishing touches on the text before a last vote by both, expected by Wednesday.
Sarkozy could make a TV appearance that evening if all goes to schedule, Le Monde newspaper said. But an Elysee source said the report was wrong and there was no plan for Sarkozy to go on TV next week.
The law has been one of the most fiercely contested reforms among austerity measures being taken by European governments as the continent emerges deeply indebted from the worst recession since World War Two.