Motorists queue on October 10, 2022 at an Auchan gas station in Pérols, near Montpellier (AFP / Sylvain THOMAS)
Barely returned from Algeria, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is holding an emergency meeting on Monday evening, while nearly a third of the stations are still affected by fuel shortages in France, where the CGT has renewed its strike action. till Tuesday.
Despite repeated calls from the government to negotiate on wages and to end the blockades, the CGT and the management of TotalEnergies have not been able to reach an agreement. The strike also continues in the two French refineries of Esso-ExxonMobil, after a meeting with management described as “inconclusive” by Christophe Aubert, central CGT union representative.
From north to south of France, the same scenes are repeated: closed stations, endless queues, rising prices and low morale.
Daniel, 34, who works in catering, criss-crossed the Val d’Oise before finding fuel at the BP station in Deuil-la-Barre: “2.27 euros per liter of diesel: I would never have done so much tail, and I’ve never been so happy to be fooled,” he told AFP.
The price of fuel at the pump in France (AFP/)
At 6 p.m. Monday, 29.4% of service stations were in difficulty at the national level (compared to 29.7% at 3 p.m. Sunday), said the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
“If a slight improvement is observed in Hauts-de-France, from 54.8% yesterday to 48.4% today, and in Ile-de-France, from 44.9% yesterday to 33.9 % today, other difficulties appear on the territory, including in areas which are not affected by the current social movement such as the Atlantic coast”, indicates the ministry in a press release.
– “Don’t stock up!” –
Everywhere, the fear of lack dictated behavior: “Before, we didn’t care, now, as soon as we miss 12 liters, we fill up,” explained Thierry, a 50-year-old Parisian.
Faced with shortages, unions of caregivers (liberal nurses) demanded Monday evening “priority access” in all stations, in order to be able to maintain home care.
Motorists queue on October 10, 2022 at a Carrefour station in Lattes, near Montpellier (AFP / Sylvain THOMAS)
“I say it again to the French: do not make precautionary stocks because it aggravates the situation”, declared Ms. Pannier-Runacher, deploring “overconsumption” in service stations, which extended the difficulties to the Atlantic coast, until spared here.
The minister therefore asked the prefects, who met in the morning, to take measures “to prevent the creation of unnecessary stocks”. Measure applied from Monday evening in Le Var, Vaucluse and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, where the sale of fuel to individuals is limited to 30 liters, by prefectural decrees.
Three days after intervening from Prague, Emmanuel Macron again called on the management of oil groups and unions on Monday for “responsibility”, stressing that “blocking” fuel depots was “not a way to negotiate”. .
At 9 p.m., Elisabeth Borne brings together four ministers to “take stock of the state of discussions” between companies and unions.
While waiting for an upturn, the government has released strategic fuel stocks, and TotalEnergies is importing fuel to compensate for the shutdown of two of its three refineries.
These measures “have made it possible to increase deliveries in areas in great difficulty: + 50% in Ile-de-France, + 35% in Hauts de France”, said the Minister for Energy Transition.
– Strike for wages –
But between companies and CGT, the showdown continues. The union is asking for a 10% increase in wages for 2022, the energy giant having made $ 10.6 billion in profit in the first half of 2022, against the 3.5% negotiated at the start of the year.
At a gas station in Paris on October 9, 2022 (AFP / JULIEN DE ROSA)
The only concession at this stage, TotalEnergies offered on Sunday to bring forward wage negotiations scheduled for November to October (no specific date), but only on condition that the refineries and depots currently blocked resume work, a “blackmail”, replied the CGT on Monday, which was therefore followed by the strikers.
They voted to continue the movement at the huge refinery in Normandy, near Le Havre, in the fuel depot in Flanders, near Dunkirk and at the “bio-refinery” in La Mède (Bouches-du-Rhône), a told AFP Thierry Defresne, CGT secretary of the TotalEnergies European committee. The Feyzin refinery (Rhône) is also shut down due to a technical accident.
The movement causes some concern to the top of the state, before a march on Sunday “against the high cost of living”, to which the opposition forces of Nupes are calling.
© 2022 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
