This measure, which will cost the state around 2 billion euros, concerns households and businesses alike and will be “valid on all fuels”, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Saturday.
A “discount at the pump of 15 cents per liter” will apply from April 1 and for four months for all French people, in order to cope with soaring fuel prices, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Saturday. at the Parisian. This measure, which will cost the State around 2 billion euros, concerns households and businesses alike and will be “valid on all fuels”, specified the Prime Minister.
The prices of all fuels, and in particular diesel, have been rising continuously for more than two months, in France as in the rest of Europe and elsewhere. A rise caused by oil production that is failing to keep pace with the strong global economic recovery, and which has been further accelerated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In France, a liter of diesel was thus worth 1.8831 euro on average and that of super SP 95 1.8889 euro in the first week of March. But these are only averages and the prices now greatly exceed 2 euros in many service stations.
The new measure “means that for each full 60 liters, you will save 9 euros”, assessed Mr. Castex in a daily interview. This reduction will be made at the time of payment, at the cash desk or by credit card at the pump, and will therefore not be immediately visible on the prices displayed at the entrance to the station, detailed the head of government. If the State will then “reimburse” the distributors, Jean Castex called on them, just like the “oil companies”, to make “an additional gesture” themselves.
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Oil tankers still make big profits
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“How would the French understand that they pay a full tank of diesel at 2 euros, while at the same time the oil companies are still making big profits,” he wondered. “If the State makes an effort of 15 cents per liter, and if they make an effort of 5 cents, for example, it is indeed 20 cents that must end up in the pocket of the French”, further urged the Prime Minister .
Jean-Yves Mano, president of the consumer defense association CLCV, told AFP that he sees it as a “concrete response” to the rise in fuel prices but regrets that it will have to wait until April 1 for its implementation. square. He also hopes that “distributors and major oil companies will apply a complementary effort”.
Assuring that professionals were indeed concerned by the measure, Mr. Castex sent an additional message to fishermen, whose “fleet of boats” is “very fuel-intensive”. “We are working with communities on measures to lower their social and port charges,” he announced.
More than 22 billion euros
In an attempt to stem the effects of the continuous rise in energy prices for months, aggravated by the invasion of Ukraine, the government has already taken a battery of measures: freezing the price of gas until the end of 2022, limitation to 4% of the increase in the price of electricity, exceptional energy check, inflation allowance for 38 million people, or even an increase in the scale of mileage allowances.
A set of decisions weighing more than 20 billion, according to Mr. Castex, who must also unveil next week “an economic and social resilience plan” in the face of the consequences of the war. The total bill for purchasing power support measures had even been estimated at some 22 billion euros, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire said on Monday, in particular 10 billion euros for the gas price freeze. and 8 billion euros for capping electricity prices.
Asked about a possible clientelism trial, less than a month before the first round of the presidential election, the head of government argued that the price of fuel had become “the first concern of the French”. “Do you see me saying to them + move around, there is nothing to see! + because there is an election in less than thirty days? It is not my conception of my responsibility”, a- he throws.
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