The CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, created controversy this week by publicly commenting on the evolution of his remuneration since 2017.
Reacting to the controversy around the salary of the boss of TotalEnergies, Gabriel Attal tried on Sunday to side with the average French. “I fully understand that the figures that are mentioned for the leaders of certain large companies, it seems totally out of reality for almost all French people of course“, declared the Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts on the set of the program”Political issuesbroadcast on France Inter and Franceinfo.
In attempting to refute a claim that his salary was increased by 52% last year, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné sparked outrage this week, particularly on the left of the political spectrum. He posted on Twitter on Tuesday a table showing the evolution of his remuneration since 2017, thus highlighting his salary of almost 6 million euros in 2021. “But comparable to my CAC40 peers and much lower than that of other European and American majors“, he underlined.
Véran understands “that it can shock”
However, Gabriel Attal refused to push the leader of the oil giant and his counterparts from other large French companies. “What I expect is that when a company makes this type of decision, the same company makes decisions in favor of sharing value with employees“, indicated the Minister of Public Accounts.
“In this case, Total signed an agreement, in pain. They were put under very strong pressure to raise salaries“, he recalled, in reference to the agreement signed last week between the management of the group and the CFDT and CFE-CGC unions, relating to a 7% increase in the wage bill. Gabriel Attal also reported that the government was expecting another quid pro quo: that TotalEnergies “also take decisions and actions to reduce the bills of the French“. “They were also put under pressure to make the rebate at the pump, 500 million euros which were invested to lower the gasoline bill of the French“, he recalled.
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Earlier in the morning, Olivier Véran also reacted to the Pouyanné affair. “For the French who look at someone who says: “I only won 3.5 million last year”whereas 3.5 million euros, when you are one of the 90 or 95% of French people who will never earn 3.5 million at the end of their professional life, I understand that it may be shocking“, Estimated the government spokesperson on the set of”Grand Rendez-vous Europe 1/Les Echos/CNews“.
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