2023-12-14 13:43:33
Published on Dec 14 2023 at 2:33 p.m.
Gasoline is not expensive enough. In any case, not enough to justify the State putting its hand in its pocket to help motorists refuel. This Thursday on BFMTV, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced that the “fuel compensation check” of 100 euros, which was to be paid at the beginning of 2024 to low-income workers, would only ultimately be signed if the prices at the pump bounced back to around 2 euros per liter.
The government is thus returning to the promise made by Emmanuel Macron at the end of September. Faced with tensions over fuel prices, the Head of State announced, during a television interview, the renewal of the “worker fuel allowance” next year. As in 2023, this boost was initially to benefit the 50% of low-income workers who must use their vehicle to get to their workplace, i.e. 4.3 million French people.
Two unknowns
An amendment to the finance bill, tabled by deputies Horizons and Liot and accepted by the government in November, had expanded the scope to 1.6 million additional beneficiaries. The estimated cost for public finances had thus increased from 435 to 600 million euros.
Only since then have fuel prices fallen. A liter of diesel costs 1.75 euros on average today, or 20 cents less than at the end of September. Unleaded 98, which had passed the 2 euros per liter mark at the start of the school year, has fallen to 1.85 euros. In this context, Bercy is reluctant to pay.
Bruno Le Maire insisted this Thursday on maintaining a safety net. “If tomorrow, which I don’t want of course, you have a worsening crisis in the Middle East, oil prices explode and as a result you have pump prices approaching 2 euros, I will trigger the worker fuel allowance system,” assured the minister. And if this were not the case, the State would save 600 million euros – which Bercy might only welcome.
There are still two unknowns left in the equation. The precise level that fuel prices must reach as well as the minimum duration of this crossing must be specified by decree. Bruno Le Maire simply indicated that a price of 1.95 euros per liter seemed to him to constitute “a reasonable threshold”.
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