The Eiffel Tower has been closed since this Monday, in a strike “reconducted” by its own workers.
The disconsolate tourists in front of the elevators
, which take them to tour the third most visited monument in France, believed that they were losing the possibility of getting to know it on their first trip to Paris.
The decision was adopted by its workers and unions.
The Parisian monument unions are concerned about
“the poor budget management of the Paris City Council
. ”
The last employee strike dates back to December 27.
With magnificent views, elevators and restaurants, the tower is an emblematic place for those who arrive for the first time in Paris and will not be able to climb it.
“Today is my birthday and I really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower
,” a little Londoner, of Russian and Ukrainian origin, who celebrates her tenth birthday this Monday, explained to AFP.
During the school holidays, many families came from Nice, La Rochelle or Bordeaux with their children to visit her.
There was not a single piece of paper announcing its closure
or when it would open
.
The same disappointment in tourists arriving from Japan, China or South America.
Bad management
The Iron Lady threatens to draw back the curtain.
On Monday, February 12, the unions of the Eiffel Tower operating company (SETE) voted unanimously in favor of a renewable strike, starting on February 19, in the middle of school holidays, according to information from Challenge, confirmed by the Agency Radio France.
This strike is a reaction to the municipality's
poor financial management of the Eiffel Tower .
The unions believe that “costs are underestimated and revenues are overestimated.”
Eiffel Tower, in Paris, France.
Since its inauguration, it has received 300 million visitors.
Despite receiving 6.3 million visitors in 2023, or 17,000 visitors per day
, the most emblematic monument faces a liquidity deficit "of several million euros", indicates Challenge magazine.
Since 2017, the costs of the initially planned works have been exceeded by 128 million euros.
The city of Paris owns 99% of the capital of SETE, which manages the monument within the framework of a public service delegation (DSP).
That is, the city council entrusts the management of a public service, in this case the management of the services offered by the Eiffel Tower, "to a public or private delegate" - in this case the SETE - "whose remuneration is substantially linked to the result of the exploitation of the service.
The contract, signed in 2017, extends until 2030.
Deterioration
The third most visited tourist site in France “will probably remain closed all day” this Monday, February 19.
Two staff unions are concerned about the “worrying deterioration of the monument.”
This was decided by the two monument staff unions, the CGT and the FO, to "denounce the current management, which is leading the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) to the worst difficulties."
The two unions are mainly addressing the Paris City Council, an ultra-majority shareholder, which, according to them,
imposes an "unsustainable" model on society.
This is a balance between income and expenses seriously damaged by the Covid-19 crisis, which generated a deficit of around 120 million euros between 2020 and 2021.
To cope, Sete was effectively recapitalized with 60 million euros the same year.
But "the basic model", which provided for an increase in city council fees "has not been modified", regrets Alexandre Leborgne, representative of the CGT.
Despite the sums invested, "
numerous points of corrosion are visible
, symptoms of a worrying degradation of the 135-year-old monument," they say, focusing especially on the painting campaign that ends with a view to the Olympic Games.
They call for the creation of a "special endowment fund" to meet future "colossal expenses."
Inaugurated in 1889 on the occasion of the World's Fair in Paris
, the Eiffel Tower quickly became a symbol of the capital and of France.
In 2023 it received 6.3 million visitors, more than in 2019, before the Covid pandemic.
The French are the first visitors to the Eiffel Tower (18.9%), according to data from Sete.
Closely followed by visitors from North America (18%), especially the United States (13.2%).
Among Europeans (not including France), who represent a total of 44% of visitors, Germans are in the lead (7.8%), followed by the English (6.8%) and the Spanish (6.4%). %).
Since its opening to the public,
it has received more than 300 million visitors.
P.B.