Paris (AFP)

On the 18th day of strike against its pension reform, the executive remains firm and insists on negotiations with the social partners. But the Christmas truce in transport that Emmanuel Macron has called for does not materialize.

The head of state, who had left Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on the front line for the past few days, came out of his silence on Saturday, considering from Abidjan that it was "good to know how to break" and calling the strikers "to the 'spirit of responsibility'.

The new Secretary of State for Pensions, Laurent Pietraszewski, hit the nail on the head in the Sunday Journal, arguing that the proposals put on the table at SNCF and RATP, very affected by the strike, "must allow us to resume work".

After two days of meetings in Matignon on Wednesday and Thursday, the government is insisting on continuing negotiations, a program and timetable for which will be presented on Monday. With in particular meetings with the social partners in early January, before the project goes to the Council of Ministers on January 22.

However, the government does not intend to let anything down on the special regimes it wants to abolish, underlines the new "Mister Pensions" of the government, which immediately rejects certain demands of the unions favorable to the reform, on the arduousness, or the proposal CFDT of an increase in contributions to balance the pension system.

On the ground, despite a drop in the overall rate of strikers at the SNCF at the end of the week, the situation remains very complicated in the middle of a weekend of departures for the Christmas holidays. Only half of the Inouï TGVs run, four out of five Ouigo, one out of five Transiliens, a quarter of the Intercités and three TER out of ten.

At RATP, only automated lines 1 and 14 of the Paris metro operate on Sunday.

On the eve of the weekend, the CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail, as well as the CFDT-Cheminots, had maintained their call to strike, unlike Unsa rail, favorable to "a break", however not necessarily followed by its base.

- Fall in turnover -

On the merchant side, already hit by the "yellow vests" crisis in 2018, there is concern over a "considerable" loss of turnover as the French finalize their last Christmas purchases.

Didier Kling, president of the Paris / Ile-de-France Chamber of Commerce, stressed on Franceinfo that out of 300 Parisian traders questioned this week, "96% say they suffer in terms of attendance and turnover", especially in the non-food trade and café-hotels-restaurants, the latter reporting 30 to 50% loss of turnover.

However, "a truce does not make sense," said Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Sunday on BFMTV. And Emmanuel Macron, who "counts on rotting", "wrongly" because "we do not govern France with the idea that the people will bring in their anger", judged the leader of La France rebellious, which will be "on a picket line" on December 24.

The national secretary of the PCF Fabien Roussel for his part saw "a form of arrogance and contempt" on the part of the head of state who "speaks from abroad by treating irresponsible" the unions calling for continue the strike.

It is in this context that the Eysée, defending itself from any "desire to display", confirmed Saturday that Emmanuel Macron renounces in advance his future retirement as a former president of the Republic, equivalent to the salary of a State Councilor, or 6,220 euros gross monthly.

The information has aroused criticism from the opposition, who see it as "a luxury that not everyone can afford" (PCF), "demagoguery" (LFI), a decision that has nothing "extraordinary" (PS), an "umpteenth communication operation" (Debout la France).

According to an Ifop poll for the JDD, 31% of French people support the protest movement and 20% have sympathy for it, for a total of 51% of positive opinions, however down by three points over a week.

© 2019 AFP