World
More than a million French workers strike against pension reform
Nationwide demonstrations happen towards French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to push the retirement age to 64.
An estimated 1.28 million individuals have participated in a nationwide strike towards French President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to push ahead the retirement age to 64, the inside ministry mentioned.
The determine suggests the demonstrations had been a number of the largest in many years, barely larger than the 1.27 million estimated throughout a earlier spherical of protests towards the reform on January 31.
The hard-left CGT union put the variety of protesters at 3.5 million.
Throughout the nation, many protest rallies attracted greater crowds than earlier ones organised since mid-January, together with in Marseille, one in every of France’s largest cities, authorities and native media mentioned.
There have been some clashes on the margins of the Paris rally, and police mentioned 22 individuals had been arrested.
France’s nationwide strike, which disrupted practice companies, shut faculties and halted gas deliveries on Tuesday, will spill into Wednesday as unions stepped up their marketing campaign to power a U-turn on a deeply unpopular coverage.
It is a important time for either side since Macron’s authorities is hoping his plan to boost the pension age by two years can be adopted by parliament by the tip of the month.
Seeking to pile strain on lawmakers, France’s extra hardline unions mentioned this time, there can be rolling strikes that might go on for days, not less than in some sectors.
The CGT union mentioned staff had voted to extend strikes in any respect TotalEnergies websites.
“The actual battle begins now,” mentioned Marin Guillotin, FO union consultant on the Donges refinery in western France.
“We haven’t been heard or listened to. We’re utilizing the one means we have now left: it’s the laborious strike … we aren’t going to surrender.”
Trains will proceed to be disrupted on Wednesday, as will the Paris metro system, though to a barely lesser diploma than on Tuesday, mentioned the SNCF and RATP transportation corporations working them.
Truck drivers and rubbish collectors had joined the strike on Tuesday, because it prolonged to extra sectors.
Macron’s proposal to make individuals work longer is deeply unpopular amongst the broader public, opinion polls present.
The federal government insists its reform plan is important to make sure the pension system doesn’t go bust.
The federal government additionally says pensions of the poorest 30 % of the inhabitants will improve by 2.5 to five %.
Unions say small will increase in contributions may preserve the pension system solvent. They are saying the proposed measures are unfair and would disproportionately have an effect on low-skilled staff in tiring jobs who begin their careers early.
World
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World
Hungary’s Orban interrupted, accused of 'selling out' country to Russia, China during EU news conference
- An activist and municipal councilor from Hungary disrupted a news conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday while Prime Minister Viktor Orban discussed Hungary’s upcoming presidency of the European Union.
- He interrupted Orban’s speech on immigration by rushing to the podium and throwing what appeared to be banknotes at him.
- During the disruption, he yelled accusations at Orban, questioning how much he had “sold out” Hungary.
An activist and municipal councilor for a Hungarian opposition party disrupted a news conference in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was laying out his plans for Hungary’s six-month presidency of the European Union.
The activist, Márton Gyekiczki, interrupted Orbán as he was speaking about his opposition to immigration, running toward the podium where Orbán sat and throwing a stack of what appeared to be banknotes at the prime minister.
“How much did you sell out the country for? How much did you sell out the country for, Mr. Prime Minister?” Gyekiczki yelled as the papers scattered. “He sold out to Putin, he sold out to Xi Jinping!” — referring to the leaders of Russia and China.
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The disruption came as Orbán was set to address the European Parliament on Wednesday during Hungary’s six-month rotating presidency of the bloc. His government has long been at odds with the EU over what it sees as his curtailing of democratic rights, and has increasingly come under fire for his close relations with autocracies like Russia and China.
Gyekiczki, the activist, who was taken to the ground by a security guard and led out of the room, is a member of Hungary’s Democratic Coalition party and a local council member in a Budapest suburb.
The president of that party, former Prime Minister Ference Gyurcsány, later wrote on social media that he was “proud” of Gyekiczki for his actions.
“We will say it everywhere and always: Hungary has a traitorous government!” he wrote.
Orbán is expected to receive a mixed reception in the EU parliament on Wednesday. Many lawmakers have pushed for his government to be deprived of EU funds over what they see as rule-of-law and corruption violations.
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Two years ago, the parliament declared that Hungary under Orbán had become “a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy,” taking it out of the community of democracies.
Yet Orbán this year successfully formed the Patriots for Europe group within the parliament, uniting far-right parties from around the continent to form the third-largest group in the EU legislature.
During the news conference on Tuesday, Orbán lamented what he sees as a declining EU economy and lagging competitiveness with the United States and China, saying that he saw that as “the most serious challenge we have to face.”
He also argued against recently adopted EU tariffs on Chinese-produced electric vehicles, and railed against immigration which he said was resulting in the destruction of the EU’s visa-free Schengen area as countries like Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia have introduced temporary border checks along their frontiers.
“These individual attempts will actually break up the Schengen system,” Orbán said, adding that he proposed a regular “Schengen Summit” for member countries to meet and discuss border policy.
“We need a big, joint decision,” he said.
Responding to the disruption by the activist, Orbán offered “a word of explanation for Hungarian political culture.”
“When a Hungarian politician tells another one that he is a scoundrel, all it means in our culture is that ‘I disagree with you,’” he said.
World
Truck drivers in Alsace protest against proposed new tax
The new tax comes at a cost of 15 cents per kilometre for heavy goods lorry drivers.
A procession of slow-moving trucks gridlocked Alsace’s A35 motorway in protest against a proposed new heavy goods vehicles tax.
The new tax, which would be introduced from 2027, will target vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes and aims to reduce transit traffic on the region’s main motorway.
The government says the HGV tax is the only solution to combat the growth in this traffic, which is exacerbated by the many European transit drivers who use the route to bypass the high ecotaxes in place on Germany’s motorways.
“We have no other solution today to curb transit. The lion’s share of the tax will be paid by transit traffic, since over 50% of all traffic is transit,” says Frédéric Bierry, Chairman of the Alsace European Community. He also claims that the new tax would bring in around €64million per year.
However, many of those working in the transit industry say the addition of this tax would threaten the survival of some businesses.
“Our businesses have very low margins, so as soon as a [new] tax is introducer or proposed, we are directly affected because we have no room for manoeuvre,” explains road haulier, Frédéric Reinheimer.
Séverine Richart, from Transports Sateg – FNTR Alsace, adds that “France’s HGV fleet is already less competitive than that of other countries. Adding yet another tax will make us even less competitive.”
Concerns have also been raised by the Collective for the Competitiveness of the Alsatian Economy, which has requested that Bierry postpone the decision by at least six-months.
However, according to Brigitte Kempf, co-president of the Alsace section of the National Federation of Road Transporters, Frédéric Bierry is so far refusing to give in to these requests.
Local councillors are set to vote on the proposal on 21st October.
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