The government “will not hesitate” to carry out requisitions if refineries are stopped by striking staff to protest against the pension reform, Transport Minister Clément Beaune warned on Monday.
“It is a decision of last resort, but as we have done previously, as we did in October, if it were necessary, we would not hesitate to do so to avoid an economic blockage and traffic in our country”, warned the Minister of Transport on Franceinfo, referring to “one-off measures, refinery by refinery”.
In the immediate future, the government “takes anticipatory measures” with strategic stocks “at the highest level”, indicated Mr. Beaune, specifying that “at the time when we speak, we are not to requisitions”.
The seven refineries in France have since January, on numerous occasions, suspended shipments of the fuels produced there.
Their employees did not want to shut down these huge industrial facilities, their restart being very cumbersome. But the forced passage of the reform in Parliament changed the situation and the CGT announced on Saturday the shutdown of the largest refinery in France, the TotalEnergies site in Gonfreville-L’Orcher (Seine-Maritime).
Industry Minister Roland Lescure had already declared on Saturday that the government would take its “responsibilities” as “in the fall” when it had made requisitions to unblock oil sites during wage strikes.
According to Clément Beaune, the strategic stocks are at “a high level” and allow “to supply the gas pumps”.
There are, however, “local situations which are more worrying than others”, especially in the Bouches-du-Rhône, he acknowledged.
In the Southeast, where some stations ran dry, “there have been phenomena that are sometimes difficult to explain, which I can understand because of the stress” with influxes of motorists, he noted.
03/20/2023 11:36:43 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
