After a scorching summer that lasted until September, the government thought it was at the center of French concerns by unveiling its ecological management plan, announced for mid-September. Bad luck, it is once again the question of purchasing power that torments the population at the beginning of the school year and that is reaching the executive.
While inflation has been devouring household budgets for two years, the price of fuel is rising again, as a result of the increase in the price of oil, approaching the symbolic threshold of 2 euros per liter. And it pushes the Government, caught by surprise, to eliminate an old taboo: the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, announced to the Parisianon September 16, that distributors would be authorized to sell fuels “lost” for six months. “Purchasing power is our fight”assures the head of Government.
However, it is no longer about issuing checks to motorists. “The bonus is very expensive, we cannot reimburse the gasoline to eternal life »says Sacha Houlié, president of the legal commission of the National Assembly.
Weakened self-employed
The Elysée recalls that more than 60 billion euros have been disbursed in two years to help the French overcome the post-Covid inflation peak, accentuated by the war in Ukraine. “And we continue to cover more than 40% of the amount of the electricity bill.insists an advisor to Emmanuel Macron. It is false to say that the State does not put its hand in its pocket. » The ghost of Liz Truss, the British Prime Minister who had to resign just six weeks after her arrival at 10 Downing Street for having presented an unstable budget, still haunts, a year later, the French executive, which defends its budgetary seriousness .
“We want everyone to take responsibility” encourages Elisabeth Borne in Parisian Sunday, using as an example TotalEnergies and its liter limited to 1.99 euros, or the cost price of the operations of some large retail brands. Prohibited by law since 1963, the possibility of selling fuel at a loss is included in a bill that will be presented to the Council of Ministers at the end of September and debated in Parliament in October. it will be effective “beginning of December”said the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, on Monday.
But the first criticisms did not take long to arrive regarding a hastily made decision that will benefit large stores, which will be able to recover the ground of other everyday consumer products, while independent stores will be weakened. As proof of the improvisation that led to the announcement, the professional union Mobilians, which represents 5,800 service stations, excluding supermarkets, announced on Monday afternoon that Bercy had committed, after an emergency meeting, to establish “compensation measures” for independent service stations… without specifying the amount promised by the executive. Agreeing with Oise MP and former Budget Minister Eric Woerth, who predicted the worldat the beginning of the afternoon that “ In the end there is always someone who pays ».
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