The French government warned today that strikes against pension reform have cost the French economy up to €3 billion, as cracks appeared in a trade union fuel blockade.
In a tactical victory for President Nicolas 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 FO union said it would recommend that its members vote to end a rubbish collection strike in Marseille where 10,000 tonnes of refuse is lying uncollected.
French 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, Minister Lagarde estimated that the strikes were costing the economy between €200-400m a day. An official in her ministry said 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.
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.
Sarkozy defends the pensions 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.
