The protest, which has been ongoing for weeks, threatens to escalate ahead of the "Roland Garros" if the government does not intervene on new healthcare tariffs and unfair competition

The French capital woke up this Monday morning under the sign of taxi drivers’ protest, who carried out simultaneous and strategic "static blockades" in front of the city’s two main airports: Roissy-"Charles de Gaulle" in the north, and Orly in the south. The action, which began at 6:00 am and lasted until 8:00 am, caused significant disruptions for travellers and brought renewed attention to a dispute that has been inflaming the sector for several weeks.

The mobilization of French taxi drivers is not new. For months the category has been complaining about an untenable situation, worsened by two main factors: the new tariffs imposed for medical transport and the competition, deemed unfair, from chauffeur-driven vehicles (VTCs), such as Uber and similar services. The issue with medical tariffs, in particular, concerns the reimbursement of rides for patients, a traditionally crucial sector for the income of many taxi drivers. The new conditions, according to unions, would significantly reduce their profit margins, putting them in economic difficulty.

In recent weeks, the protest has taken different forms, including slow convoys and gatherings at strategic points in the city. The Ministry of Transport headquarters, located on Boulevard Raspail, has become an almost daily meeting point for demonstrators, bearing witness to the persistence of discontent.

Today's blockade: a warning

Emmanuelle Cordier, president of the National Federation of Taxis (Fndt), confirmed to the local press that Roissy and Orly "were occupied as planned from 6 in the morning". Dominique Buisson, secretary of the federation, clarified the nature of the "static movement": "If you position yourselves in front of the terminals, no one can get there". The objective was clear: to prevent access to the terminals and block incoming and outgoing traffic at the airports, although the exact number of vehicles involved was not specified. Airport police and the French civil aviation authorities (Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile - DGAC) closely monitored the situation to ensure safety, although no serious incidents were reported.

Despite the direct impact on airport flows, the traffic monitoring service Sytadin reported at 9:10 am a return to "normality" in general circulation in the Île-de-France region. Although the total length of traffic jams across all road arteries in the Paris region amounted to 328 km, this figure was within the average for a Monday morning, suggesting that the action, while targeted, did not paralyze the entire region as sometimes happens during more extensive strikes.

After the morning protest at the airports, taxi drivers moved back to Boulevard Raspail, reinforcing their pressure on the government. Buisson issued a clear warning: "Today we are going easy, but starting Wednesday there will be a real blockade if the meetings do not yield other results". This statement anticipates a possible escalation of the mobilization precisely during the days when Paris will host the prestigious tennis tournament "Roland Garros" (from May 26 to June 9, 2025), an event that attracts thousands of tourists and visitors from around the world. A more massive blockade during this period could cause significant damage to the city’s image and economy.

The situation remains tense, with taxi unions determined to obtain concrete answers from the Government. The ball is now in the court of the Ministry of Transport and the French Government, who will have to find a solution to calm the protest before it turns into a real transport crisis. Parallel to the taxi drivers' protest, farmers in Paris also took to the streets, gathering with their tractors in front of the Parliament building, highlighting a general climate of social discontent and pressures on the Government on multiple fronts.