France

French workers are taking to the streets for the second time in two weeks, piling more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron‘s plans to raise France’s retirement age and threatening further walkouts that could grind much of the country to a halt, the Wall Street Journal reported. Striking teachers and railway, health and oil workers are staging marches in dozens of cities as a part of a nationwide day of action called by unions to force the government to back down from its pension overhaul.

Strikes coordinated by French unions brought significant disruption to the country on Thursday as they protest against government plans to revamp the pension system and test president Emmanuel Macron’s ability to resist street pressure, Bloomberg News reported. Workers in sectors including railways, schools and energy are taking part in the 24-hour strike against Macron’s plan to raise France’s minimum retirement age to 64 from 62. Unions are leading marches across France’s largest cities with the backing of left-wing political parties.

French unions and opposition parties on Wednesday said they would fight hard to try to derail a highly unpopular plan to make people work longer before receiving a pension, Reuters reported. President Emmanuel Macron's government, in turn, said it wasn't afraid of a nationwide call for strikes and protests on Jan. 19 and would carry on with its plan. The French will have to work two years longer to age 64 before retiring, if the reform, announced yesterday, is adopted by parliament. They will also need to work longer to get a full pension.

France's power suppliers have agreed to offer small businesses struggling with price rises a guaranteed tariff of 280 euros ($298) on average per megawatt hour, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said, Reuters reported. "This is a guaranteed tariff and it is an enormous relief," said Le Maire after a meeting on Friday with energy executives. President Emmanuel Macron had on Thursday urged energy suppliers including EDF and TotalEnergies to do more to help customers cope with the surge in energy prices that has in recent months driven inflation to record highs.

France’s unions have pledged to dig in for a prolonged fight against French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to overhaul the country’s pension system, a new threat to his pro-business agenda, the Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Macron’s government is meeting with unions this week, putting an explosive issue back on the table as the country navigates the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine. The government said it would detail the proposed measures next week. Revamping the country’s pension system was one the main planks of Mr.

The French economy is set to contract slightly this quarter due to refinery strikes and nuclear reactor outages before activity recovers in the first half of next year, the INSEE official stats agency said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The euro zone's second biggest economy will contract 0.2% in the final three months from the previous quarter, INSEE said in its latest economic outlook. INSEE trimmed its forecast from a previous projection for flat growth after refinery strikes and maintenance outages at some nuclear reactors reduced industrial output.

Government measures to ease the cost of Europe's energy price shock should not be ramped up further and should be wound down in the next two or three years, the head of France's central bank said on Thursday, Reuters reported. European governments have committed tens of billions of euros this year to help households and businesses cope with record power and gas prices with measures ranging from subsidies to tax breaks and price caps.

French prosecutors said on Monday they have put a Ukrainian woman linked to the governor of Lebanon's central bank under formal investigation as part of a cross-border probe into alleged fraud to the detriment of the Lebanese state, Reuters reported. Anna Kosakova, with whom central bank governor Riad Salameh has a daughter, according to a birth certificate seen by Reuters, is suspected of aggravated money laundering, a spokesperson at the Paris office of the National Financial Prosecutors said.

As French President Emmanuel Macron makes the rounds in Washington starting Wednesday for the first state visit of the Biden administration, high on his agenda are his plans for a nuclear energy “renaissance.” His entourage includes the major players from France’s nuclear energy industry, who will be looking to the French leader to help boost the development and export of their technology, including smaller and more versatile reactors, the Washington Post reported. But there could hardly be a more awkward time to promote French nuclear know-how.

The French government, which plans to retake full ownership of Electricite de France SA, has no plan to subsequently dismantle the utility after the €9.7 billion ($10 billion) buyout, according to the Finance Ministry, Bloomberg News reported. The state, which already owns 84% of the nuclear giant, wants the company to keep growing its output of renewable energy alongside building new nuclear plants, Finance Ministry officials said at a press briefing on Monday. Earlier, a lawmaker had said the government was still pursuing a project to spin off minority stakes in some of EDF’s activities.