WHEN negotiations between French lorry drivers and transport companies broke down early yesterday morning, one question was on everyone's mind: would the army intervene to break up the five day old lorry barricades which have created petrol shortages and massive traffic jams around France?
It wouldn't be the first time. In July 1992, when a similar strike stranded thousands of holiday makers, the French army used tanks to chase lorry drivers off the highways. In February 1984 an earlier blockade was also broken up with army tanks.
A gleam of light in the week long dispute came last night when haulage company bosses agreed to pay truck drivers fully for an hours worked. But any such concession has to be ratified by the government.
The drivers are demanding retirement at 55, shorter working hours and pay rises. They have blocked access to more than a dozen petrol storage facilities, allowing fuel to be removed only for heating and hospitals. Tankers are prevented from delivering fuel to petrol pumps, and long queues have formed outside stations that still have petrol to sell. Supermarkets in several cities are running low on supplies.
Among the worst hit cities are Bordeaux (the home town of the Prime Minister, Mr Alain Juppe), Lyons and Caen, in Normandy. Negotiations were due to resume last night, but if agreement was not reached the drivers planned to extend their action to Paris today.
After staying out of the dispute for four days, Mr Juppe yesterday urged both parties to come to an agreement. "We must be aware of the importance of this sector of the economy in our national life," he said. "Talks must resume rapidly and find a solution." Nearly 70 per cent of all merchandise in France is transported by road.
More than 2,000 lorries blocked roads to Lyons, Franco's second city. It took only 600 lorries to surround Caen, a regional transport hub. In Strasbourg lorry drivers blocked access to the Bridge of Europe which leads to Germany, France's main trading partner. The French ambassador to Madrid was called in to hear of the government's "deep concern" at the effect of the blockade on Spanish commerce.
The blockades have been organised like a military campaign. "Our troops are prepared to hold out", a driver in Caen told Le Monde.
Frank McNally adds: Hundreds of Irish truck drivers remain stranded in France as the roadblock protest by French hauliers enters its sixth day today. The dispute has already cost Irish firms about £1 million, according to the Irish Road Haulage Association.
The IRHA president, Mr Jimmy Quinn, said several hundred Irish drivers were caught up in the dispute and those carrying perishable cargos were facing serious losses. "Coming on the back of the Channel Tunnel fire and the disruptions to ferries of the last week, it's a bit of a disaster," he said.
The IRHA is advising drivers going to and from Italy to avoid France, but Mr Quinn said this involved travelling through Austria, where there were problems with permits and other restrictions. Many drivers had been reduced to "playing hide and seek" on back roads, he added.
