But they have tarnished France's image with scenes of barricades and
picket-line violence just as the eyes of Europe are on the host country
of the Euro 2016.
French
President Francois Hollande delivers a speech during the 10th Emergency
Healthcare congress at the Palais des Congres in Paris, France, June 3,
2016.President Francois Hollande said on Sunday it would be incomprehensible if transport strikes were to disrupt the Euro 2016 football tournament that opens in France on Friday, raising pressure on the militant CGT union to call off the action.
Hollande spoke in a radio interview as an
opinion poll showed a majority of French people now opposed the wave of
nationwide protests against planned labour law reforms that has
disrupted fuel supplies and transport services in recent weeks.
Finance Minister Michel Sapin
said the stoppages and street demonstrations, which have hit rail
services, power stations, oil refineries, ports and waste treatment
plans, were having no significant impact on the economy.
But
they have tarnished France's image with scenes of barricades and
picket-line violence just as the eyes of Europe are on the host country
of the Euro 2016.
"No one would understand it if
trains and planes - I'm thinking of the Air France pilots' dispute -
were to prevent fans travelling around easily, even if the competition
itself has nothing to fear," Hollande said on France Inter radio.
Rail
services have been roughly halved since the CGT and its allies began an
open-ended strike last Wednesday. A new round of talks on a
reorganisation on working time are due to be held at the SNCF state
railway on Monday.
Air France pilots have
announced plans to strike from Saturday, the second day of the Euros, in
a separate dispute over pay cuts.
The Socialist
president acknowledged a heightened threat of terrorism during the
football tournament but said France was taking all possible measures to
keep fans safe. Some 130 people were killed in gun and bomb attacks by
Islamic State militants on Paris last November.
Hollande
said he had decided to maintain the planned fan zones where tens of
thousands of spectators without match tickets can gather to watch games
on giant screens. The biggest planned zone is next to the Eiffel Tower
in Paris.
Some security officials and commentators
have warned the enclosures and queues of fans waiting to enter them
could be targets for potential attackers, stretching the resources of
police and security firms in charge of protection.
But
Hollande said: "I decided not only that the competition must go ahead,
(but also) to keep the fan zones and make this into a European festival,
a festival of the people, a sporting festival. We have done everything
to make it a success."
A BVA poll showed that many
voters were still against the reforms that unions say will strip
workers of their rights. A similar poll a month ago showed that a slim
majority backed the protests.
"Days before the
start of the Euro football tournament, while no solution to the social
crisis is in sight, support for the protest movement against the labour
reform is dwindling," Agnes Balle of BVA Opinion said.
The
survey carried out on Thursday and Friday showed that 54 percent of
French people interviewed were against the protests. The same number
backed the protests in May. Only 45 percent currently support the
protest movement, BVA said.
The poll showed 29
percent wanted the government to maintain the bill, which aims to make
hiring and firing easier, in an attempt to get stubbornly high
unemployment falling, with presidential elections a year away. The same
percentage want the bill withdrawn, while 41 percent want a negotiated
solution.
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