Visiting Rungis, the Head of State pleaded for a solution similar to “discounts at the pump” to be put in place by “major producers and retailers”.
Private actors again put to work to reduce the bills of motorists. Visiting Rungis this Tuesday morning to meet French people who get up early to work, Emmanuel Macron answered a professional who asked him about fuel prices, even suggesting a “small gesture» suppliers on diesel. “It’s very hard for young people, very very hard“, told him an employee. “We have the aids for the big rollers. And there, we will try to make a small diesel gesture, you will see“, he said, appealing to “the spirit of responsibility of our major producers and retailers“.
“I hope that the dialogue can be finalized between the ministry and the companies concerned as was done last year on fuels with rebates at the pump which had been made by companies like Total. […] It is important, at a time when we need to support our compatriots, especially those who work“, also launched the head of state, during the same trip. And to call on everyone totake partin this fight for purchasing power.
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For the time being, if the rebates offered by the State as well as the professionals died out at the end of December, the government offers riders the benefit of a “fuel allowance” of one hundred euros. But this one, which must be requested from the administration, is struggling to find its audience, and many eligible beneficiaries have not yet requested it. They have one month left to receive this welcome aid.
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A price close to two euros for a few months
It remains to be seen how the first concerned will respond to this call from the President of the Republic, while the boss of TotalEnergies has already said he is ready to put in place a rebate… if prices exceed durably the highly symbolic bar of two euros per litre. In recent months, TotalEnergies had already set up, between September and December, a “massive fuel price reduction programin its stations, thanks to a rebate per liter in addition to that offered by the State. What double it, and generate long queues in front of the establishments of the energy company.
Last September, the giant’s boss, Patrick Pouyanné, praised the efforts of his teams to restore purchasing power to households: the discounts boosted the group’s fuel sales, which was quite simply “outmoded“, acknowledged the businessman. “I gain nothing […]. We are, after two weeks, at a cost of around 71 million euros for the company“, he assured.
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Emmanuel Macron’s speech comes as prices at the pump have remained close to the two euro mark since the start of the year, and the extinction of discounts. Last Friday, a liter of diesel cost, on average, 1.84 euros, according to data from the Ministry of Energy Transition. The bill is ironed under the gasoline, estimated meanwhile between 1.88 and 1.97 euro per liter.
If these levels remain far from the records seen in March or June 2022, the full one undeniably weighs more and more heavily on household budgets, even though they are already strangled by inflation. A discount could help relieve drivers, at least temporarily, as further price increases are expected on the shelves from March. But, politically, aid for diesel – the best-selling fuel in France, representing 75% of the total in 2021, according to Ufip Energies and Mobility – is debating, raising the question of “financing of the ecological transitionand fossil fuel subsidies.