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Paris (AFP) – The government called on Tuesday for the lifting “without delay” of the blockages of fuel depots, threatening to “intervene” to unblock them, its spokesman Olivier Véran said on RTL.
“We are doing everything we can to put an end to this situation,” he added the day following an emergency meeting in Matignon, mentioning the possibility of making requisitions or reopening access to depots.
“The government is calling for all the blockages to be lifted without delay. Otherwise, we will take our responsibilities, that is to say, we may have to lift them,” he said.
Olivier Véran made the difference between the situation at Exxon, where “there is no longer any reason for there to be any blockage” following the agreement between management and the unions on Monday, and at TotalEnergies, where “the CGT continues to call for blocking”, which “we consider excessive and abnormal”.
“The management of Total is right to ask for the lifting of the blockages before discussing”, according to him.
If the situation does not improve “very quickly”, the government might “unblock, reopen access to depot centers and refineries, and then requisition the appropriate personnel to be able to allow the situation to normalize”, explained Olivier Veran.
He estimated that regaining “normal functioning” in the most affected regions would “take a few days”, and assured that “this will be the case within 15 days”, i.e. before the All Saints’ Day holidays.
He also considered it abnormal that “a few strike profiteers” have caused “the prices of gasoline at the pump” to jump in certain stations.
The government “discusses with Total with a view to there being an extension over a few days of the rebate” put in place by the group, according to the spokesperson.
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