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Swedes’ trips to Egypt cancelled until October

Swedish travel agents have halted all trips to Egypt until mid-October due to the violence in the country, with an estimated 1,600 Swedes affected.

Swedes' trips to Egypt cancelled until October

Travel agencies Ving, Fritidsresor, and Apollo announced on Friday that there was a stop to all travel Egypt that will last until at least midway through October.

“After that we’ll see if the Foreign Ministry still advises against travelling,” Apollo spokeswoman Kajsa Moström told the TT news agency.

“Together with the autumn school holiday break, the end of October is when the proper tourist season in Egypt begins.”

Over the weekend, around 500 Swedish tourists who are in the north African nation will be flown home.

German media reported violence in the tourist heavy area of Hurghada, but the context of the violence remains unclear. There are 200 Swedish tourists currently in Hurghada, a city in Egypt’s east on the coast of the Red Sea.

All tourists are expected to be home by Monday, according to a spokesperson at Fritidsresor.

On top of the 500 travelling Swedes in Egypt, there are around 800 who live there permanently.

At least 525 people were killed across the country on Wednesday when Egyptian security forces broke up protests in support of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, according to the latest toll provided by a health ministry official on Thursday.

Speaking with the Reuters news agency, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the EU needed to review its aid programmes with Egypt, but rejected criticism that the EU hadn’t done enough.

“Everyone underestimated the problems and the dangers inherent in what was unleashed two and a half years ago,” he said, adding he that there was little chance that EU-facilitate dialogue between the military and political leaders in Egypt could continue in the near term.

“I don’t think there is any room for mediation at the moment. The possibilities that might have been there a week or two ago have been blown off completely by what’s happened,” he said.

TT/AFP/The Local/og

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of 420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of 2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some 200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of 2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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