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Join on Telegram Rabat – French Minister of Ecological and Inclusive Transition Elisabeth Borne has been facing backlash for taking a holiday trip to Marrakech, Morocco, amid the transportation strike and continuous protests over pension reform in France.
French media and internet users strongly criticized the French official for going on a holiday trip during the crisis.
French author Olivier Marteau wrote on his Twitter that Borne “asked French people not to consume too much on Black Friday, because according to her it was bad for the climate. And then she left for a weekend in Marrakech.”
Élisabeth Borne avait demandé aux Français de ne pas trop consommer au Black Friday car selon elle c’était mauvais pour le climat.
Et là elle est donc partie en week-end à Marrakech. ? pic.twitter.com/RJkfa5eHOf
— Olivier Marteau (@MarteauOlivier) December 25, 2019
Journalist Nils Wilcke also criticized the minister. “Hello everyone, amid strike against pension reform, our minister of ecology, Elisabeth Borne, took a flight to Marrakech … and Merry Christmas,” he said.
L’excuse de Matignon? “Élisabeth Borne a beaucoup donné au pays cette année” Ah… Le conseiller d’Edouard Philippe de perm n’était même pas au courant de ces vacances au Maroc. Youpi! https://t.co/z0yY8TsPaI #Marrakech #Retraites #Greves
— Nils Wilcke (@paul_denton) December 25, 2019
Le Parisian reported that the minister took a commercial flight at her own expense for a few days’ holiday.
“She will join her office” again next week, Le Parisian added.
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Transportation workers in France have been on strike over pension reforms for more than two weeks.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that strikes should not “ruin” the Christmas holiday, calling for a suspension of the strike.
“A strike action is justifiable and protected by the Constitution, but I believe there are moments in the life of a nation when it is also good to call a truce to respect families and family life,” Macron said from Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, where he visited last week.
Despite Macron’s statement, families in France have been stranded in train stations due to cancelled trains and “gridlocked roads,” according to the BBC.
Flights have also been canceled.
Macron said that suspending strikes for the holidays does not mean that labor unions should forget about their demands.
