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Paris station gets ready for Brexit with new tax kiosks and expanded customs check area

Travellers on the Eurostar between Paris and London will notice a new Brexit-ready addition - duty-free tax kiosks which have been installed ready for the end of the transition period on December 31st.

Paris station gets ready for Brexit with new tax kiosks and expanded customs check area
Photo: AFP

France's public accounts minister Olivier Dussopt visited the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord to check the new infrastructure that is being installed to prepare for the UK's exit from the European Union.

Already in place – although they will not be in use until the end of the transition period on December 31st – are duty free tax terminals.

Using these terminals, British travellers will be able to attend a refund of the VAT (known as TVA in France) paid on any goods bought in France over the value of €175. The same will apply to French shoppers in the UK.

“This system will facilitate the work of customs officers and should be generalised on both sides of the Channel, according to the principle of reciprocity that exists between the two countries,” said Dussopt.

 

In addition to the tax refunds, staff at Gare du Nord are also working on the infrastructure for the extra passport and customs checks that will be necessary for arrivals from the UK from 2021.

France's customs director Isabelle Braun-Lemaire said: “Customs formalities will be introduced for all foreigners and European citizens, as well as controls identical to those that must be carried out at an airport when travelling outside the European Union.”

As well as additional passport controls, she added: “People returning from the UK will have to declare, under penalty of a fine, any goods worth more than €450.”

The same restrictions will apply in the other direction and in a blow to the tradition of a British booze cruise, there will also be limits on the amount of alcohol that can be brought into the UK.

If travelling within the EU there is no limit to the amount of alcohol you can take over the border as long as it is for your own personal consumption or to be given as a gift – although customs officers are likely to question you if you are taking more than 90 litres of wine (120 standard size bottles).

However this will change after December 31st and unless the UK and France come to an agreement the limit is likely to default to the current restriction for non EU countries, which stands at four litres of wine (six bottles) or 16 litres of beer or 1 litre of spirits.

At Gare du Nord an expanded checks area is being prepared, with new security booths and an extra queuing area.

One customs officer told French newspaper Le Parisian: “With the multiplication of control procedures, the queues are likely to drag on as long in France as in England.”

The summer of 2019 saw delays of up to six hours as Gare du Nord staff staged a 'work to rule' protest which they said mirrored the extra checks they would have to make on everyone after Brexit. 

 

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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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