Ongoing labor strikes. mass protests, mass flooding, Seine at high levels! new refugee camp being built, EU economic woes!
Submitted by IWB, on June 3rd, 2016
France is in full, pre-summer chaos that will only worsen as current and imminent workers’ protests and strikes against government labor reforms spread throughout the country, further disrupting a transportation network already suffering from fuel shortages and adding to the angst in the tourism sector that sees its numbers plummeting.
As images fly around the world of protesters marching through cities, police cars burning in Paris, violent clashes between police and demonstrators, growing lines at gas stations and new strikes by pilots, traffic controllers, railway workers and subway staff, the warnings are multiplying against visiting the country and the travel industry is bracing for a disastrous summer season.
Then there’s the current wave of inclement weather – canceling a full day of play at the French Open for the first time in 16 years – causing severe floods and alerts, exacerbating widespread gloom and worry.
Referring to the wave of hotel cancellations – 30% in recent weeks – the French tourism trade association GNI describes the strikes as “asphyxiation” for the industry. Since last November’s terrorist attacks in Paris, the Ile-de-France, which comprises Paris and the surrounding region, has reported fewer foreign tourists while the social unrest, protests and blockades accelerate the trend and “strengthen the incomprehension of visitors,” says the region’s promotional agency.
The world’s most visited museum, the Louvre in Paris, is to close on Friday amid worsening flooding caused by days of torrential rain.
The move will allow staff to move works at risk of damage to higher parts of the gallery, a statement said.
The Seine, which runs through Paris past the Louvre, has risen five metres above normal levels.
Heavy rains across Europe have left at least 10 people dead, most of them in Germany.
More downpours are forecast right through the weekend across a band of central Europe from France to Ukraine, with as much as 50mm (2in) of rain falling in some parts in just a few hours.
The move will allow staff to move works at risk of damage to higher parts of the gallery, a statement said.
The Seine, which runs through Paris past the Louvre, has risen five metres above normal levels.
Heavy rains across Europe have left at least 10 people dead, most of them in Germany.
More downpours are forecast right through the weekend across a band of central Europe from France to Ukraine, with as much as 50mm (2in) of rain falling in some parts in just a few hours.
Paris mayor plans official camp for homeless refugees
Anne Hidalgo says current situation, with makeshift migrant settlements springing up before being cleared, is not acceptable
Anne Hidalgo says current situation, with makeshift migrant settlements springing up before being cleared, is not acceptable
The mayor of Paris on Tuesday announced plans to set up a refugee camp in the city’s north, saying her country can no longer stand by as the Mediterranean “becomes a graveyard” for migrants.
Image: Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo
Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo. MATTHIEU ALEXANDRE / AFP – Getty Images
Mayor Anne Hidalgo detailed her plans as officials decried a deadly week in the Mediterranean in which an estimated 1,000 or more migrants perished making the journey from Africa to Europe.
Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo. MATTHIEU ALEXANDRE / AFP – Getty Images
Mayor Anne Hidalgo detailed her plans as officials decried a deadly week in the Mediterranean in which an estimated 1,000 or more migrants perished making the journey from Africa to Europe.
Citing Germany as an example, Hidalgo stressed that France must step up its response given the “urgency” of the situation.
“Paris will not remain without taking responsibility while the Mediterranean becomes a graveyard for refugees,” Hidalgo told a press conference. “I do not want to look at myself in the mirror in six months, three years, 10 years, or 15 years and say: ‘This is Paris, you were mayor of Paris and with regards to this population, you are guilty of not helping people in danger.”
The world economy risks getting caught in a “low-growth trap” if governments don’t spend more on investments, open up to trade, and make reforms, a top economic forum warned Wednesday.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a wide-ranging report that it is increasingly pessimistic about the global outlook and cut its growth forecasts.
Among the risks identified by the Paris-based economic agency, which represents the world’s most developed economies, was a potential British exit from the European Union, volatility in financial markets, and Europe’s inability to find a common response to its refugee flows.
Above all, the OECD said in its Global Economic Outlook that weak growth risks becoming chronic.
“This low growth trap involves a cycle in which diminished expectations become self-fulfilling,” said Angel Gurria, the OECD’s secretary-general.
PARIS – The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is increasingly pessimistic about the global economy, including Canada’s, and is warning that the “low-growth trap” will continue if governments don’t change tack on spending and trade.
Overall, the OECD is forecasting global growth of three per cent this year and 3.3 per cent next year. Both are down 0.3 percentage points from its November outlook.
It’s estimating Canada’s gross domestic product will grow by 1.7 per cent this year and 2.2 per cent in 2017. That’s down from the OECD’s November estimate of 2.0 per cent growth in Canadian GDP in 2016 and 2.3 per cent in 2017.
The OECD notes that Canada’s resource sector has been contracting but says the decline will slow. Activity in other parts of the economy will “gain traction,” the organization said Wednesday.
“Business investment in the oil and gas sector continues to fall sharply — it is likely to be about 60 per cent below its 2014 level in 2016 — but should be a smaller drag on growth thereafter,” OECD said in its analysis for Canada.
TERRORISM, MIGRANTS, AND CRIPPLING DEBT: IS THIS THE END OF EUROPE?
Traveling from a locked-down Brussels to a grieving Paris to a refugee camp in Greece, Henry Porter reports on the European Union’s existential crisis.
BY HENRY PORTER FEBRUARY 2016
Traveling from a locked-down Brussels to a grieving Paris to a refugee camp in Greece, Henry Porter reports on the European Union’s existential crisis.
BY HENRY PORTER FEBRUARY 2016
Rome and Paris are concerned about EU attempts to further build on global rules, which are aimed at making banks issue more subordinated debt and other securities that could help mop up the costs of bank failures. In a joint paper seen by the FT, the two countries’ finance ministries have called for a cap on how far eurozone bank regulators can go beyond the global rules.
Elke König, chairwoman of the Single Resolution Board, the eurozone agency tasked with handling bank crises, has said repeatedly that the board may force some banks to have loss-absorbing reserves of “well above” 8 per cent of their liabilities — previously seen as the EU benchmark.
This has raised French and Italian fears that the EU’s biggest banks could in effect be forced to exceed a related international standard, known as the Total-Loss Absorbing Capacity (TLAC) rule, which was agreed last year by the G20. The minimum figure set out there is 6.75 per cent of total liabilities.
TLAC rules require banks to structure their balance sheets so a sizeable chunk of their liabilities can be easily written off, or converted into new equity, if they get into financial difficulties.
In the joint paper, submitted to other capitals and the European Commission in May, France and Italy urge that any move to make banks exceed international norms should only happen in “exceptional” circumstances. Banks should also never be expected to have TLAC of more than 8 per cent, they argue.
But some architects of the tougher EU bank rules adopted since the financial crisis say the Franco-Italian stance is a mistake. Sven Giegold, a German member of the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee, told the FT that the position amounted to “France and Italy doing their too-big-to-fail banks a favour . . . That is an unjustifiable risk to European taxpayers.”
Tuesday 31 May 2016
It is nearly midnight and the sound of bongo drums is beating out across Paris’s Place de la Republique where several hundred people are drinking beer, smoking weed and – as one of their numbers says – “bearing witness”.
Witness to what, exactly, is not immediately clear. The mostly young crowd is gathered under a banner that says “Nuit Debout” – which roughly translates as “Rise up at Night” – but beyond that there are few clues as to what unites the protesters gathered under the watchful gaze of several hundred riot police.
“It is about re-appropriating politics in general by the people, for the people”
Yann Le Moullec, Paris
On March 31 they filled the square as part of a 400,000-strong workers’ protest against reforms to France’s rigid labour laws, but every night since then the Nuit Debout protesters have turned in a list of bewilderingly different causes.
On March 31 they filled the square as part of a 400,000-strong workers’ protest against reforms to France’s rigid labour laws, but every night since then the Nuit Debout protesters have turned in a list of bewilderingly different causes.
A quick survey of the crowd reveals feminists, environmentalists, socialists, specie-ists (who oppose the tyranny of humans over animals), as well as an anti-Islamophobia caucus, political groups defending Palestinians and those still saying “non” to labour reforms.
Members of Nuit Debout movement protest against controversial labour reforms in front of the French parliament in Paris, on May 3, 2016 (Geoffroy Van der Hasselt\/Getty)
Members of Nuit Debout movement protest against controversial labour reforms in front of the French parliament in Paris, on May 3, 2016 (Geoffroy Van der Hasselt/Getty)
Members of Nuit Debout movement protest against controversial labour reforms in front of the French parliament in Paris, on May 3, 2016 (Geoffroy Van der Hasselt/Getty)
“It is about re-appropriating politics in general by the people, for the people,” says Yann Le Moullec, a 21-year-old linguistics student who volunteers for Nuit Debout, “we are united against oppression, whether men over women, humans over animals or workers over bosses.”
Nuit Debout, which aspires to be a global movement, echoes other now-dissipated popular protests like America’s Occupy and Spain’s anti-austerity Indignados, with its influences ranging “from Marx to Marley”, according to a recent survey.
It could be dismissed as yet another failed fringe protest movement, but the people on the square share one unifying trait with tens of millions of people across the European Union: they are fed up.
“Democracy is failing,” says Armand Degue, 21-year-old student studying city planning who, like many such protesters on the streets of Paris, Athens and elsewhere, is not the blue-collar, low-skilled victim of globalisation that you might expect.
“I’m at the top of the pyramid: I’m an educated, white heterosexual with a good network. The world is made for me to succeed,” he said, “but even I am not sure about the next five years. I fear for myself and I fear for my country.”
May 17, 2016
Police fired tear gas at anti-labour reform protesters, who were seen targeting police officers with Molotov cocktails and firecrackers, during clashes in Paris on Tuesday.
Police fired tear gas at anti-labour reform protesters, who were seen targeting police officers with Molotov cocktails and firecrackers, during clashes in Paris on Tuesday.
Eurozone ministers reached on Wednesday (May 25) a vital deal to unlock urgent cash for Greece but analysts warned promises to tackle the country’s debt mountain are sketchy, spelling trouble further down the road.
The agreement unlocks €10.3 billion (US$12 billion) in bailout cash that Greece needs to repay big loans to the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July, having already fallen behind in paying for everyday government payments and wages.
The US-based IMF has made easing Greece’s huge debt burden a condition for its continued participation in the bailout programme, despite opposition from Germany to giving Athens more favours.
The 19 ministers from the countries that use the euro met two days after Greek lawmakers passed yet another round of spending cuts and tax hikes demanded by its creditors.
Paris floods: Seine set to peak as more rain forecast
Floodwaters in Paris are set to peak on Friday with the River Seine due to reach 6m (19ft) above its normal level.
The world-famous Louvre and Orsay museums have been shut so staff can move priceless artworks to safety.
Floodwaters in Paris are set to peak on Friday with the River Seine due to reach 6m (19ft) above its normal level.
The world-famous Louvre and Orsay museums have been shut so staff can move priceless artworks to safety.
Trains operating at only 50%, strikes on the metro, floods on the Seine, the Louvre closed, violent protests against the government’s labour law, fears for the Euro 2016 football tournament – the list goes on.
If it wasn’t an insufferable cliche, one would be tempted to call it Francois Hollande’s “perfect storm”. It is certainly not the perfect spring he would have liked.
Striking workers created power blackouts by cutting power to a big electricity line in western France and occupied train tracks at a Paris railway hub Thursday, as union members staged protests around the country to protest the proposed abolition of some French labor protections.
Strikes on the national rail service and at most French nuclear plants added to troubles for travelers and residents suffering from floods after days of unusually heavy rains.
Workers have sector-specific demands, but are also tapping into months of widespread anger at a government bill extending the 35-hour workweek and making it easier to hire and fire workers. Some unions are threatening to keep up labor action through the start of Europe’s top sporting event next week, the European Championship soccer tournament.
Read more here:
American, 27, charged with attempted murder for ‘torching Police patrol car with two officers inside’ during Paris worker riots
American man, 27, given preliminary charges of attempted murder
Suspect is among five people given various charges in the incident
Masked protesters caught on video smashing and torching the car while two officers were inside
Symbolized tensions between police and protesters amid months of demonstrations
Near the site of the Paris protest by police, about 15 counter-demonstrators targeted the police car
American man, 27, given preliminary charges of attempted murder
Suspect is among five people given various charges in the incident
Masked protesters caught on video smashing and torching the car while two officers were inside
Symbolized tensions between police and protesters amid months of demonstrations
Near the site of the Paris protest by police, about 15 counter-demonstrators targeted the police car
article today, June 2:
Fresh strikes and protests hit France on Thursday, but fears of travel paralysis during the upcoming European Soccer Championship waned as airport staff cancelled a planned walkout, and a Paris subway strike failed to cause much disruption.
With barely a week to go before the start of Euro 2016, half of all trains nationally were cancelled, and several people were hurt as police clashed with protesters opposed to the new labor law.
The government says the law is necessary to fight unemployment and make France more business-friendly, but opponents say the law will lead to longer hours, lower wages, and fewer protections for workers.
A subway strike in Paris Thursday appeared to fail as commuters suffered only minor disruptions in service. Air traffic controllers also called off a walkout that threatened to ground flights over the weekend after reaching a deal with the government.
A blockade of France’s oil refineries, which has caused fuel shortages across the country, also eased as workers voted to return to work in a refinery owned by Total at Donges on the Atlantic coast.
But the crisis is far from over, as six of the country’s eight oil refineries remained shut down or operated at a reduced level. Workers were also back on strike at 16 of the country’s 19 nuclear power plants.
French rail travellers endured more misery on Thursday as strikes cut train services by half but a militant union’s bid to widen protests against planned labour reforms to air traffic control and the Paris metro appeared to fail.
In an unrelated dispute over pay, Air France pilots called a strike for June 11-14, coinciding with the start of the month-long Euro 2016 football championships which France is hosting.
The Socialist government refuses to scrap labour reforms despite fears the standoff could disrupt Euro 2016 which kicks off on June 10.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has rejected demands that he scrap a bill that the large and militant CGT union says will undermine labour protection by giving firms more scope to set in-house deals on pay and terms.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/rail-strike-hits-france–pilots-call-stoppage-during-euro-soccer/42197702
French riot police officers stand through smoke during clashes with protesters during a demonstration against the government’s labour market reforms on June 2, 2016 in Nantes, western France.
Ten restaurants in Paris will open their kitchens to refugee chefs in the hope of “changing attitudes” in Europe towards asylum seekers.
The chefs will cook in the restaurants for five days between 17 and 21 June as part of the Refugee Food Festival, which is being run in conjunction with the UN’s refugee agency and will coincide with World Refugee Day in 20 June.
Seven chefs will be part of the scheme and have refugee status from a variety of countries, including Syria, India, Ivory Coast, Chechnya and Sri Lanka.
DMG
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