FRENCH GOVT IN A HUDDLE AS STRIKES GO ON

PM HOLDS SPECIAL MEETINGS ON REDESIGN OF RETIREMENT SYSTEM

PARIS : The French government said it would see through planned pension reforms but tried to assuage union anger with promises of a gradual introduction of the new system that has sparked nationwide strikes.

Transport systems were paralysed for a fourth day on Sunday as unions at state railway SNCF and Paris public transport system RATP extended their strike against the changes.

“I am determined to take this pension reform to its completion,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

“If we do not implement a thorough, serious and progressive reform today, someone else will do one tomorrow, but really brutally.”

On Wednesday, Philippe will present a detailed outline of the reform, which aims to end special regimes under which some workers can retire in their early fifties and replace them with a unified system with equal rights for everyone.

Ahead of a meeting of ministers on Sunday afternoon, several cabinet members offered to soften the reforms.

“I want the state budget to be balanced, but let’s not be dogmatic ... the calendar is open to discussion,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on France 3 TV.

“We do not want the slope to be too steep for those concerned by the reforms.” Discussion is focusing on which age groups will be impacted by the reform. In July, a report by pensions tsar Jean-Paul Delevoye said it would affect people born in 1963 or later.