Jacques Serais, edited by Laura Laplaud
By announcing the requisition of personnel from the Esso-ExxonMobil depot in Gravenchon-Port-Jérôme, in Seine-Maritime, the government has decided to change its tone. A risky bet when we know that the rise in fuel prices was the trigger for a social crisis in 2018, that of the “yellow vests”.
We knew that the government’s change of tone in the face of the refinery strikers was risky. Especially since the requisitions of the employees of the Esso-ExxonMobil depots, wanted by Elisabeth Borne, do not change anything in the short term to the shortage of fuel in our service stations. So what do we think of the Élysée? Is the executive worried about the turn of events?
Anxiety reigns
At the Élysée, we want at all costs to avoid arriving at the image of the ambulance which cannot leave for intervention for lack of fuel, confides an adviser to Europe 1. And then, there is the demonstration of Sunday against the expensive life, initiated by the Nupes, which is in everyone’s head. We must not forget that fuel was the starting point of the “yellow vests”, recalls a macronie executive.
However, beyond the display of a very strong concern, a ministerial adviser concedes a form of helplessness: “It is not impossible that we are still in the same situation in a week”.
It will have taken less time to close all restaurants in France in March 2020
At this stage, these requisitions only concern two Esso-ExxonMobil depots and around ten employees for the resumption of a minimum service. But above all, “there is a risk that these agents will take sick leave to escape it. Can you imagine? We would then have to look for doctors who issue these judgments”, suggests a relative of a minister. We are therefore not at the end of our surprises.
If the political will is to display a certain firmness, concretely, it is not so. The best illustration being the staff requisitions announced Tuesday by Élisabeth Borne and signed only this Wednesday morning with a deadline, effective Thursday. It will therefore have taken less time to close all the restaurants in France in March 2020, at the time of Covid-19, than to put a dozen employees back to work.