PARIS, April 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Hundreds of thousands of Europeans poured into streets Saturday in Paris, Berlin and Rome to protest against governmental plan to scale down welfare and pensions as leaders across Europe are struggling to give an impetus to stagnant economies and overhaul creaking social systems.

    Billed as part of a "European day of action", the demonstrations sweeping across Europe came as response to the European Trade Union Confederation's call for a two-day protest against welfare and pension cuts introduced by governments.

    Organized by trade unions and pensioners' lobby groups, around 10,000 to 15,000 angry protesters marched through the city center in Paris, waving banners reading "Together in Paris and Europe forjobs, social rights, the welfare state and public services" and shouting slogans such as "Chiraffarin, out! We want our money back!"

    The outpour of public discontent was triggered by the French government's reform plan to trim the pensions, employment, taxes and social security system, which causes an annual deficit of 11 billion euros (13.3 billion US dollars).

    France's center-right coalition has already sustained backlash from the reform plan when it suffered a crushing defeat in last Sunday's regional elections, which was partly attributed to voters' anger with the reforms.

    To make things worse, despite the opposition of more than half of the French people and the left, French President Jacques Chiracreappointed Jean-Pierre Raffarin as prime minister in a cabinet reshuffle.

    According to a BVA poll, over six French people in ten are against the reappointment of Raffarin.

    Chirac defended his choice in a television speech earlier by saying that Raffarin is "a qualified man, who knows well France and French people and he had been in keeping the direction I made in 2002."

    Small-scale demonstrations were reported in other French cities,such as in southeastern city of Lyon, southwestern Bordeaux and Mediterranean city of Montpellier.

    Similar protesting wave swept Berlin and other German cities, which saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets, blowing whistles and brandishing placards reading "(Chancellor Gerhard) Schroeder must go!", "Overthrow 'Agenda 2010'" and "Social demolition creates no jobs".

    Demonstration organizers said the number of protesters surpassed 200,000 in Berlin alone, and over 420,000 in total across Germany, including Cologne and Stuttgart, while police in Berlin put the figure at around 100,000.

    Protesters' anger pointed to Schroeder's "Agenda 2010" economicreform plan, which was launched last year aimed at breathing freshair into its sluggish economic development.

    Amid mounting opposition, Schroeder, along with some officials in his Social Democratic Party, hit back by accusing trade unions,which were accustomed to enjoying well-paid welfare system, of forgetting about the country's future generations.

    Despite Schroeder's resolve to stay the course, his party's approval ratings had been plummeting for months.

    The Italian government, intent on slashing its generous pensionsystem, was also bogged down when protesters' emotion ran high in Rome and tens of thousands of retirees took to the streets demanding higher pensions.

    According to Italy's labor unions, around 500,000 people from all over Italy participated in the demonstration in the capital.

    The event came as the latest in a series of protest in Rome andother major cities.

    The pension reform plan introduced two years ago by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been under fire from the elderly who accused the plan of benefiting the rich at the expenseof lower-income people.

    The plan is still awaiting a vote in parliament.

    Confronted by an aging population which boasts the largest number in Europe, Italy is strained to spend higher proportion of its gross domestic product on pensions than other European countries. Enditem