Neither “responsible” nor “coherent”. This is how Bruno Le Maire reacted, this Sunday, September 3 on BFM TV, to the proposal made on Friday by the president of the Hauts-de-France region, Xavier Bertrand (LR). The latter demanded a discount “for all” of 15 to 20 cents on the price of a liter of gasoline, which rose again in the middle of summer. Such a proposal “costs 12 billion euros”, said the Minister of the Economy, and it would not be “consistent with budgetary commitments and the exit of whatever it costs”, he estimated. .
“I think it’s not a responsible decision, especially at a time when we continue to pay part of the French electricity bill,” he added, referring to the tariff shield still in force. force and from which the country must gradually emerge by the end of 2024. The latter “will cost more than 30 billion euros in 2023”, underlined the minister.
Global warming and greening of taxation
The government had set up, in the fall of 2022, a general rebate of 30 then 10 cents. The measure, valued at 8 billion euros by the government, ended on December 31. “At a time when inflation was the hardest and most penalizing for our compatriots, we made this choice”, whose “cost was extremely high”, recalled Bruno Le Maire, who also puts forward an ecological argument . “The fight against global warming and the greening of our taxation and the end of whatever the cost means that I am not in favor of us giving a discount on our fuels”, concluded the minister.
After falling in the spring, fuel prices started to rise again during the summer: according to the latest statement dated August 25 from the Ministry of Energy Transition, diesel prices were on average 1.8240 euros per liter ; at 1.9171 euro for the super SP95-E10; 1.9844 euro for the SP98. Not far from the symbolic cap of two euros.
A threshold crossed in many service stations according to the comparator of the government site fuel-prices.gouv.frbut below which remain the TotalEnergies petrol pumps, whose prices are capped at 1.99 euros until the end of the year, which weighs the national average.