Sarkozy Stands Fast

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is not backing down from his determination to change some pension rules despite growing strikes in other segments of the country. He says he was elected to bring change and he will not let the people down.

Speaking before an assembly of mayors, the president said that he had been elected in May to bring in a "clean break" from the past and that he would honour the mandate — even as a transportation strike threatened to enter its eighth day Wednesday.

"We will not yield and we will not retreat," Sarkozy said.

"Let there be no doubt. What needs to be done will be done. What needs to be accomplished will be accomplished. The French elected me to do it, and I will not betray them."

It was the president's first public address since the start of a strike last week by railway-workers against plans to change their "special" pension system.

Causing immense inconvenience to commuters and costing up to 400 million euros (590 million dollars) daily by government estimates, the strike was joined Tuesday by a separate protest staged by hundreds of thousands of teachers, nurses, tax officials and other state employees demanding pay rises and an end to job cuts.

Mass rallies against the government were held in cities nationwide, with 30,000 marching with banners across central Paris. Francois Chereque, the leader of a union that favours a compromise, had to leave the Paris demonstration in haste after being booed.

The number of striking transportation workers has actually dropped drastically at this point and Sarkozy may well be seeing that the opposition is weakening. He sounds pretty confident. The reform that caused the original eruption merely makes some workers who got earlier retirements have to live with the same standards as other employees. The workers involved do not appear to be getting a lot of public sympathy.