PARIS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- French Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin on Tuesday announced "strong measures" to ameliorate working conditions of customs officers enough to overcome the eventual pressure that the Brexit may trigger.
After he met with customs unions, Darmanin pledged to recruit additional 700 customs staff and allocate 14 million euros (15.8 million U.S. dollars) to increase wages of officers, which he said, would be financed by savings within the ministry.
The minister also planned to launch "in the coming days national consultations on the conditions and the working atmosphere of customs officers, which will be conducted on the basis of their feedbacks and examined case by case."
Darmanin will meet customs unions in two weeks to further discuss ways to answer the concerns they had expressed in connection with Brexit and their expectations regarding purchasing power and working conditions.
Early January, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe triggered a plan in which he pledged to invest 50 million euros to handle an eventual "hard Brexit" effect on French domestic economy. (1 euro = 1.129 U.S. dollars)
