AIDES to French President Emmanuel Macron briefed that he was ready to make concessions as mass strikes against his pensions cuts continued today.

Most public transport was closed in Paris and the Ile de France area, while the SNCF state railway was running just one in four trains.

Though the movement had mobilised for mass demonstrations on Tuesday — bringing more than 600,000 people onto the capital’s streets and 1.8 million nationwide — pro-strike demonstrations today in Paris still attracted 72,000 people.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has been holding separate talks with unions and employers’ representatives on potential changes to the package, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64 and reduces the entitlements of most workers under the guise of standardising pension calculations.

The government says it wants “every hour worked” to earn points towards pensions — a sleight of hand aimed at removing remaining final-salary pension schemes and replacing them with an earn-as-you-go system.

A presidential aide said Mr Macron “won’t abandon the project” but “is willing to improve it.” In return he hoped that there could be a “pause” in transport strikes, though he said he was expecting more protests and industrial action “because this is the normal course of things.”

The President was forced to appoint a new Pensions Minister today — Laurent Pietraszewski — following the resignation of the architect of the pension changes, Jean-Paul Delevoye, over conflicts of interest.

Left-wing France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said that the protests had “already seen the back of Delevoye — we can see the back of his reforms too.”

France’s CGT union federation says it intends to continue strikes through the festive season.

Delaying the move to a pension age of 64 is one concession mooted by ministers, with government spokeswoman Sibeth NDiaye saying the age change is just a “proposal.” The shift could win over the less militant CFDT union federation, which has called the retirement age a “red line” but indicated support for pension reforms in principle. The reforms don’t go to the French parliament until January, and Mr Macron’s En Marche political vehicle has a majority in the body.