Paris (AFP)

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe raised his voice on Saturday at the risk of major disruptions in train traffic during the holiday season, openly playing against public strikers on the eve of an eleventh day of blockage in transport against the pension reform.

"Everyone will have to take responsibility. I don't think the French would accept that some people could deprive them of this moment," said the head of government in an interview with Parisien on Sunday.

Friday evening, he had urgently convened a meeting in Matignon and asked the boss of the SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou to prepare a "transport plan" specifying which trains would be maintained. The latter had already called rail workers on strike indefinitely since December 5 to "take a break" during the holidays.

Scathing response from Laurent Brun, secretary general of the CGT-Cheminots (1e): "If the government wants the conflict to end before the holidays, it has all the next week to make the necessary common sense decision: the withdrawal of the points reform ".

SNCF, through the head of the TGV, has promised at this stage that "at least" half of the travelers will be able to leave for Christmas. Those who have already booked a ticket for the Christmas holidays, which start on Friday, will know Tuesday if they can leave.

"The situation can be fixed very quickly. But for the trains to run, there needs to be a positive message from the government," said Roger Dillenseger (Unsa railway) on Saturday, criticizing an executive who "plays on the rope".

- "Very reduced" traffic -

Beyond the Christmas question, the Prime Minister shows himself in his interview with the Parisian very severe on the strike started ten days ago. "Admittedly, there have been very frequent strikes, but only in a few public service bodies," he said. Adding: "So I would not say that the whole country is on strike. It is not a total blockage".

On Saturday, the situation was still critical in transport - one TGV out of four and three TER out of ten on average. And traffic will remain very disrupted Sunday and Monday with still a quarter of the TGV and a third of the TER, as well as almost all of the metro lines closed.

Monday traffic will remain "very reduced" at RATP.

In the meantime, the government continues to try to put the CFDT back on the train of supporters of its pension reform, which consists of merging the 42 existing plans into a "universal point system".

But its chief negotiator, Jean-Paul Delevoye, High Commissioner for Pensions, has been weakened in recent days in public opinion by accusations of conflict of interest with the insurance world, a combination of functions prohibited by the Constitution, but also the presidency of a "Regional Observatory of Public Order".

- Hot and cold -

It remains to be seen whether the boss of the CFDT Laurent Berger will agree to resume the discussions proposed by the same Édouard Philippe for "as soon as possible next week".

So far, nothing has filtered his decision, as the government plays hot and cold on the crucial question: the decision to add to the bill an "age of equilibrium" at 64 years below which will not touch his full retirement, an extension of the contribution period presented as a guarantee of the financial equilibrium of the system.

The "pivotal" age is "negotiable", "our door is open", said the Secretary of State to the Minister of the Economy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, on Saturday. When the Prime Minister assures that he "does not want to force people to work longer, but (...) encourage them to balance the system", because "we live longer, so we will work longer ".

It is a "red line" for the CFDT which, with a reformist inter-union (CFDT, CFTC, Unsa and the students of La Fage) called to demonstrate on Tuesday, alongside the inter-union behind the strike ( CGT, FO, Solidaires, FSU and four youth organizations) to request the withdrawal of the project.

Railway workers, students, public service employees, health professionals, lawyers, magistrates, teachers are expected on the street.

Very mobilized since the start of the conflict, the latter obtained Friday from the government the guarantee of salary increases, for around 10 billion euros over several years, from January 1, 2021.

On Saturday, several hundred people demonstrated in Lyon, Montceau-les-Mines, Strasbourg, Nantes, Orléans and Toulouse.

© 2019 AFP