PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to hold last-minute talks with management from France's top transport and energy firms on Tuesday, hours before workers in those sectors were to strike against his pension reform plans.
Transport workers object to President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to scrap special pension rights in their sectors and others, a key element of the economic reforms he has promised to deliver.
Their strike, which will overlap with a walkout by energy workers on Wednesday and possibly even protests by civil servants and students next week, is the first major test of Sarkozy's reform agenda.
Opinion polls suggest the public backs Sarkozy in the standoff, and he has repeatedly pledged to stand firm.
"I will pursue these reforms to the end," he told the European Parliament. "Nothing will blow me off course."
National rail workers begin their rolling walkout on Tuesday evening at 1900 GMT. They will be joined the next day by Paris public transport workers.
State rail operator SNCF said it expected only 90 out of 700 high-speed intercity services to run during the strike, while one-tenth the normal number of buses and metro trains were due to be running in Paris on Wednesday.
"Victory or the end of Sarkozyism. It is in those terms, with great risks for itself, that the ruling power describes the first large social conflict facing it," the left-wing, generally anti-Sarkozy, newspaper Liberation said in an analysis.
Sarkozy has, however, repeatedly said the door remained open to talks, and he was due to meet management from the SNCF, Paris transport operator RATP, gas firm Gaz de France and power utility Electicite de France at 1730 GMT.
