FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron’s government suffered a blow today when the key architect of his pensions overhaul resigned over alleged conflicts of interests, on the 12th day of strikes against the planned changes.

The French presidency said Mr Macron accepted “with regret” the resignation of High Commissioner Jean-Paul Delevoye, a veteran politician who prepared the pension plans for two years before being appointed in September.

Delevoye was under fire from the opposition and unions after French newspaper Le Parisien and Le Monde reported that he hadn’t mentioned some of his activities in the formal declaration required from all government members to avoid potential conflicts of interests.

Delevoye acknowledged a “mistake,” saying he “forgot” to declare several positions, some in the insurance and banking sectors, a think tank and one at the foundation of national rail company SNCF.

Today’s transport strike caused a record 391-mile congestion in the Paris region, where only two Metro lines, using automated trains with no drivers, were fully running. The other 14 were closed or only very partially running.