After a tenth day of nationwide protests against pension reforms, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has offered to meet leaders from eight unions for talks early next week. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in Tuesday's strikes and protests across France, nearly two weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron forced an unpopular pension reform through parliament. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time [GMT+1].
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- People took to the streets for a 10th day of strikes on Tuesday against government plans to reform the pension system, of which a proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is among the most controversial. Rolling strikes in the transport, aviation and energy sectors continued to disrupt travel.
- Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne used Article 49.3 – known as the "nuclear option" – to push the pension reform through parliament without a vote on March 16, sparking widespread anger. Days later, the government narrowly survived two no-confidence votes.
- French President Emmanuel Macron insists the proposed changes are needed to reform a moribund system – but some of the government’s own experts have said the pension system is in relatively good shape and would likely return to a balanced budget even without reforms.
- The government estimated that 740,000 people participated Tuesday’s demonstrations – and unions put the figure at 2 million – making the protests significantly smaller than the nationwide mobilisation last Thursday. There were also significantly fewer violent clashes reported.
- Unions have called for an eleventh day of national strikes on April 6. Although the government refused unions’ calls for “mediation” over the pension reform, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is set to hold talks with representatives from eight unions next Monday or Tuesday.
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