Lights Go Out Across France in Privatisation Dispute

Six French cities were plunged into darkness and several leading government figures had their power supply cut yesterday when the trade union CGT led a national day of action against plans to partly privatise the state electricity utility, EDF.

Both Nicolas Sarkozy, the finance minister and the communist-linked CGT, supported by three other unions, said they would not back down as parliament debated the privatisation bill and more than 6,000 power workers took to the streets in Paris alone.

Bernard Thibault, the CGT's general secretary said: "This plan was not acceptable yesterday, it is not acceptable today and will not be tomorrow. A decision of this nature, of this importance, cannot be taken when it provokes so much controversy."

The government plans to change the status of EDF and the gas utility, GDF, to allow up to 30% of its capital to be sold to private investors from next year.

Mr Sarkozy, whose political ambitions mean he must make the sell-off a success, has sought to ease opposition by vowing that the state's stakes will never fall below 70%.

He said yesterday the change was necessary because after the opening-up of Europe's energy market on July 1, EDF and GDF will have to start looking abroad without anti-competitive state support for the business they are bound to lose in France.

The unions say nothing in the EU's directives obliges the government to privatise the utilities and argue the move is purely ideological.

Their strikes and power cuts yesterday cut 12% of EDF's output and plunged parts of Bordeaux, Grenoble, Cahors, Arras and Limoges into darkness on Monday night.

The power workers have also cut electricity supplies since the weekend to the country homes of government figures who have supported the privatisation plan including the industry minister Patrick Devedjian, the education minister François Fillon and the head of the Medef, France's equivalent of the Confederation of British Industry.

Unusually in France, the power workers cannot rely on the unstinting support of the public - at least not in wildcat power cuts. There was uproar last week when power was cut to three mainline Paris railway stations, briefly stranding tens of thousands of commuters.

According to a poll in Le Parisien yesterday, 77% of the French consider such actions unacceptable.

The French are also divided about the proposed energy reform (30% approve, 30% disapprove) suggesting that the privatisation project is not a major public concern.

Mr Devedjian said on French television that the government would not back down. "In a democracy, who decides - the street or parliament? The matter is being put before parliament, it represents the nation and EDF belongs to the nation. Parliament will decide."

The bill faces a difficult passage: the opposition Socialist and Communist parties have combined to table some 1,800 amendments. A record 37 opposition speakers are due to speak in the debate, and three procedural objections are being prepared.

The battle is a setback for President Jacques Chirac, whose ruling party, the UMP, was humiliated in European elections last weekend after a drubbing in regional polls in March.