“I’m so happy!” Nine days before the presidential election, motorists flocked on Friday to take advantage of the government discount of at least 15 cents per liter for all fuels and some stations were experiencing the crowds of the big days.
Faced with prices that have passed the bar of 2 euros per liter on average, and among other measures against inflation, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced this discount in mid-March for April 1 and for four months.
Some contenders for the Elysée had then deemed this announcement “electoralist” or insufficient.
It is “never enough” but “in any case it is a very important gesture”, defended Jean Castex on Friday during a visit to Carpentras.
“It’s a godsend,” rejoices Didier Turpin, a 68-year-old retiree, at a Laval gas station. “We go on vacation so we take advantage of it,” he explains.
“I’m so happy!”, Enthuses Sidali Lameche, 25, home delivery man on a scooter, met in a Parisian station where prices have dropped below 2 euros as in many stations. “I always put around 15 euros in my scooter. Before that it was a day, a day and a half maximum depending on the work. This will last me at least 2 days with the same price”.
“It’s just not enough but we make do with it,” puts into perspective Mohammed Belaich, 54, who works for a car rental company.
In a station in Strasbourg, a few hundred meters from the German border, the six pumps are not quite enough to absorb the flow of customers. A light queue formed in the morning… including many Germans, at least half of the customers according to the employee.
Klauss Brandenburg, a 68-year-old pensioner, driving a black Opel 4×4, crossed the border to take advantage of the windfall. “It’s really interesting financially,” he rejoices. “In Germany, ten days ago the prices went up to 2.24 euros”.
In this station, the SP95 went from 1.917 euro on Thursday to 1.737 euro on Friday. In Kehl, on the other bank of the Rhine, it remained at 2.01 euros.
Rebate or not, some are considering changing the type of vehicle. “Probably my next car will be a mixed car: electric or other, but not just diesel,” predicts Guy Gournay, 70, met in Laval.
– 3 billion euros –
Professionals expect a large influx for a few days.
“We expect a water hammer during the first days of April”, indicates Frédéric Plan, general delegate of the French Federation of fuels, fuels and heating (FF3C), which notably represents independent service stations.
“It is a point of vigilance”, confirmed the government, which “does not exclude that here and there, there are situations with stations which are temporarily dry”.
The rebate goes up to 18 cents including VAT per liter in mainland France, a difference which is explained by the amount of VAT applied in the various French territories. It will be around 17 cents in Corsica and 15 cents overseas.
Some distributor networks add their own promotions to the extent of the government, which will devote three billion euros to it.
– The displayed discount –
The price displayed at the pump includes the discount. Distributors have benefited from the upstream discount, at central purchasing level, since Sunday.
The price of fuel at the pump in France
© AFP – Source: AFP
The government has also provided an advance for small independent stations which sometimes only renew their tank every 10 or even 20 days, so that they can apply the discount from Friday.
“We must ensure that this is applied everywhere on the national territory and for the benefit of all our fellow citizens”, underlined Jean Castex.
The government encourages the French to seek the best prices by consulting the site prix-carburants.gouv.fr.
Unhappy with the government’s announcements, some professionals had however joined filter dams, blockages of oil depots and refineries throughout France last week.
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