Left-wing politicians are not taking off. Patrick Pouyanné, who had already been made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 2015, was elevated to the rank of officer on the occasion of the “promotion” of July 14. “Celebrating a boss who continues his ecocide projects, what is the message? “Questioned in a message posted on Twitter the First Secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure. Many left-wing personalities have also denounced this promotion.
“Plunder natural resources, dig an ecocide project in Uganda and South Africa, accumulate billions on the destruction of the planet… And receive the Legion of Honor,” quipped EELV MEP Karima Delli. “The level of cynicism, climatic denial, feeling of omnipotence and impunity of the President of the Republic is absolutely incredible,” said Green MP Sandrine Rousseau.
The reactions were also numerous on the side of La France insoumise. MEP Manon Aubry called it “the Legion of Honor of planetary destruction and tax evasion”. “To the CEO of Total, grateful climate collapse,” lamented MP Benjamin Lucas, when his colleague Alma Dufour saw it as “a huge middle finger to climate change.” »
“Investing in fossil fuels with carbon bombs in Africa, extorting motorists at the pumps, refusing to raise salaries and standing up to strikers: Pouyanné’s winning combo to be promoted by Macron to the Legion of Honor”, again mocked the rebellious MP Matthias Tavel. Asked, the Ministry of the Economy, at the origin of this promotion, did not wish to comment and TotalEnergies was not immediately available.
A regular target of climate activists, TotalEnergies was also questioned earlier this week by the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), which considered that the oil megaproject led by the French giant in Uganda was a “disaster” for the population, had “devastated the livelihoods of thousands of people” and “will contribute to the global climate crisis”. TotalEnergies had on the contrary affirmed “to put the environmental and biodiversity issues as well as the rights of the communities concerned at the center of the project. »