Strikes cost France hundreds of millions a day, minister says
Baku, October 26 (AZERTAC). Strikes in France cost the country 200 to 400 million euros ($280 to $560 million) per day, plus "immaterial" and "moral" damages, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Monday.
French workers staged a series of rolling strikes and demonstrations this month and last month against government plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, among other pension reforms.
Lagarde`s estimate covers a period of nearly two weeks, since rolling strikes began on October 12, a finance ministry spokesman told CNN, and takes in the fuel crisis, the deterioration of the country`s image, and the impact on foreign investment.
She was speaking with French broadcaster Europe 1.
The fuel crisis caused by the strike has started to ease, said Yves le Goff, a spokesman for the French oil industry association UFIP.
"None of the fuel depots are blocked anymore and three of the twelve refineries are no longer on strike," he told CNN.
Drivers had been waiting for hours to refill the tanks of their cars in some parts of the country after strikers shut down all 12 of France`s refineries and blocked some fuel depots last week.
The French Senate passed the reforms last week despite the demonstrations, and a final vote reconciling its bill with that of the lower house of parliament is expected within days.
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