Paris airport could run dry after fuel blockades

PARIS - The battle between Nicolas Sarkozy and left-wing protesters over pension reform intensified yesterday as the Government admitted the country's biggest airport might have only enough fuel to last until tomorrow morning.

A statement from the Ecology Ministry said Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris had supplies that would last until tomorrow but did not elaborate on what would happen after that. Officials have taken the extraordinary step of warning some flights landing at France's main airport to come with enough fuel to get back home.

In a bid to prevent people from panic buying petrol, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde took to the airwaves to insist there was no shortage. "We have reserves for several weeks," she told French radio, saying only 230 of the country's 1300 petrol stations had been affected.

Yesterday, as France's 12 petrol refineries were blockaded, a million protesters demonstrated in Paris and other cities against Sarkozy's raising of the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62.

The President insists the changes are essential not only to prevent a €32 billion ($59.2 billion) pension shortfall growing to €50 billion by 2020, but to provide for future generations.

But trade unions say the plans to raise the retirement age - with a reduced pension entitlement - to 62 by 2018, and the age of full-pension entitlement from 65 to 67, are unfair. Opinion polls show many French people believe the reform targets the most vulnerable: women, workers in hazardous jobs, and those who started working at a young age.

A sixth round of nationwide protests is scheduled for tomorrow night, a day before the Senate votes on the retirement reform, which must still return to both Houses because of amendments tacked on during debates.

"I think the French understand that those who are blocking the country are at the head of the Government," said Francois Chereque, head of the moderate CFDT union. He later called on the Government to "suspend the parliamentary debate."

Schools, trains, public transport and even garbage collection in Marseille have been blocked by intermittent strikes to pressure Sarkozy to back down. The possibility of a long-term fuel shortage appears to be the biggest concern.

All 12 fuel refineries have been hit by strikes and many fuel depots are blocked, triggering a run on pumps by fearful motorists. In an extraordinary move, police were called in on Saturday to force three crucial fuel depots to reopen.

The Civil Aviation authority sent out an advisory to airlines making short and medium-haul flights to Charles de Gaulle airport to arrive with enough fuel to get home, spokesman Eric Heraud said yesterday.

"They must come with a maximum capacity in their fuel tanks," he said. "Obviously, these instructions apply only to flights of no more than four to five hours because transatlantic flights cannot 'double carry' fuel," he said.

The pipeline from the Atlantic port city of Le Havre that feeds fuel to Charles de Gaulle airport and the smaller Orly, south of Paris, has been working only intermittently. Heraud said Orly airport had 17 days' worth of available fuel.

- OBSERVER, AP