The Minister of Industry, Roland Lescure, hinted on Saturday that the Government could carry out requisitions in the event of the closure of refineries by the employees on strike against the pension reform.
Blockage risks
At least two refineries, the PetroIneos refinery in Lavéra (Bouches-du-Rhône) and the TotalEnergies Normandy refinery in Gonfreville-l’Orcher (Manche), could close as of this weekend and at the latest on Monday, according to the CGT. Until now, the strikers had been content to block fuel shipments, but the refineries continued to produce.
Asked about the risk of fuel shortages, the Minister replied: “We showed in the autumn that we knew how to assume our responsibilities there again, we will assume them”, in reference to the requisitions then taken to unblock oil sites during wage strikes.
He stressed that such measures were “rolling out” with Parisian garbage collectors.
Take on the leader of the CGT Bouches-du-Rhône
“We are not going to leave 65 million French men and women and a country together blocked by a few dozen individuals. So, the strike, (…) is obviously an inalienable right, but the blockade of some individuals from ‘a country (…), you can’t,’ added the minister.
Assuring that “today, most service stations in France and Navarra have gasoline”, Roland Lescure criticized the leader of the CGT Bouches-du-Rhône Olivier Mateu who, without naming him, described him as an “arsonist fireman”. , which “tries to create panic, anxiety so that people are going to get gas and suddenly we find ourselves potentially without it.”
The trade unionist, candidate for the succession of Philippe Martínez at the head of the CGT, had advised last Monday “comrades who get up in the morning to go to work” to “stock up, because it will not last forever”, after entering strike at the oil terminals of Fos-sur-Mer and Lavéra.
Source: BFM TV
