France's tragedy! The longest strike in history, 100,000 police officers to maintain stability, shipping companies refused to dock...

The beginning of the new year has failed to bring a new look to this country. A disaster is unfolding in France! Since the beginning of December last year, 800,000 French people have launched a general strike movement to fight against Macron's pension reform plan.

The strike movement has now lasted for about 30 days, breaking the record of the major strike in 1986-1987, and is still continuing!

In order to slow down the fiscal deficit, the French government decided to reform the pension system. The retirement age of workers will be postponed by two years, from the current 60 to 62. The age at which workers receive full insurance benefits will be raised from 65 to 67 .

The weakening of pension benefits has caused serious dissatisfaction among the French people, and many trade unions have called for an "unlimited" strike to attract the attention of the French government!

So far, more than 200 marches have been held across France, which were also mixed with violent conflicts such as arson, looting and smashing!

From late night on December 31, 2019 to early morning on January 1, 2020, when people needed to go out to celebrate the New Year, only two subway lines in Paris provided normal service, and the other 14 subway lines were all closed. Many roads in Paris were severely blocked, making it difficult for people to travel.

French officials are concerned about the social instability that the general strike may bring, and have dispatched 100,000 police officers and gendarmes across France to maintain security and order on New Year's Eve.

The strike had a serious impact on the Christmas and New Year holidays. The catering, retail, tourism and hotel industries were continuously impacted by the strike, and many restaurants and hotels saw a significant drop in turnover during the holiday season. Macron's previous call for a "truce" during the holiday season did not receive a response from the unions.

What is dramatic is that as the strike intensified, the French Minister of Transport and Environment was revealed to have gone to Morocco for vacation, sparking even greater dissatisfaction among the people!

Relevant commentators said that French government members took vacations and deliberately allowed the strike to continue without any intervention, which showed that they were trying to drag out the strike.

According to the latest news, the trade union will launch a new round of nationwide protest marches on January 9. It seems that this farce is far from over!

The general strike that lasted for a month has caused serious trauma to the French economy, especially the logistics industry!

In terms of economy , in December, the number of customers in French restaurants fell by 40% and hotel bookings decreased by 30%, which meant a loss of at least 200 million to 300 million euros in Paris alone.

The French National Railway Company (SNCF) said that the strike in the past month has caused the company a loss of 400 million euros. Given the current scale and development trend of the strike, France's economic growth rate in the fourth quarter will be reduced by 0.1 to 0.3 percentage points.

The unions continue to actively mobilize across the country: transportation continues to be blocked, electricity is cut off from time to time, and refineries are shut down...

In terms of logistics, France's transportation was at a standstill, which in turn had a significant impact on foreign trade. Traffic in many cities, including the capital Paris, was paralyzed, and the transportation of goods arriving and passing through France was severely affected during this period.

This strike, which lasted for a month, not only made the French people feel uncomfortable, but also caused additional losses to Chinese cross-border sellers! Some sellers' goods failed to arrive at the port as scheduled, and some sellers' overseas warehouse shipments also faced delays. I hope that Chinese sellers can actively respond and overcome difficulties!

Of course, the strike will have a more serious impact on local French sellers. Some local sellers’ supply chains will have gaps. Chinese sellers can find new breakthroughs during this period!