00:00Welcome back. France is bracing for one of its biggest strides in years.
00:05Trade unions have joined forces to pressure Prime Minister SĂ©bastien Le Corneau
00:09over budget cuts, wages, pensions and public services.
00:14Up to 800,000 people are expected to take to the streets nationwide,
00:19with transport, schools and air travel likely to be disrupted.
00:22Authorities have deployed 80,000 police and 250 marches are planned across the country.
00:31The demonstrations come just days after Le Corneau, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron,
00:36took office as France's third Prime Minister in a year,
00:39following the hosting of François Beirut over a 44 billion euro austerity plan.
00:45Le Corneau has promised to drop Beirut's unpopular plan to scrap two public holidays,
00:49but unions worry other austerity measures, like freezes on welfare spending, could still go ahead.
00:56Le Corneau has only weeks to present a budget and form a minority government,
01:00amid a divided parliament and repeated deadlocks.
01:04France's economy, the second largest in the EU,
01:06is under pressure to cut a deficit nearly double the bloc's 3% limit,
01:11with debt at 114% of GDP.
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