Patrick Pouyanné will probably not vote for Yannick Jadot in the presidential election. The EELV candidate did not really try to put the boss of TotalEnergies in his pocket. In recent days, the two men have launched diatribes through the media with, as a backdrop, the war in Ukraine and the activities of the oil group in Russia.
TotalEnergies has decided to stop all purchases of Russian oil or petroleum products “by the end of 2022 at the latest”, but not gas. A decision that drew the wrath of several NGOs, but also of the environmental candidate who then engaged in a showdown with the group.
Act 1: Yannick Jadot accuses TotalEnergies of complicity in war crimes
On Friday March 11, while at the Assises du Produire en France in Bordeaux, Yannick Jadot protested against Total’s activity in Russia, despite the sanctions that have been imposed on the country since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. “It’s a shame, it’s a shame for our country that a large national group is complicit in war crimes. So I ask the President of the Republic to impose the withdrawal of Russia from Total”, castigates the candidate in front of journalists, following his speech at MIFEXPO, the Made In France exhibition.
“We are facing an aberration which is of absolute indignity. President Macron is the one who obtained all the contracts for Total in Russia and today you have one of the last oil ‘majors’ in Russia, c “It’s the French company, he insisted. We cannot be complicit in the war crimes that are practiced there”.
Act 2: media pass
A new pass of arms between Yannick Jadot and Patrick Pouyanné then occurs Wednesday, March 23. Asked about the accusations regularly made by the candidate for the Elysée, Patrick Pouyanné says he is “angry” on RTL. “When Mr. Jadot accuses the 100,000 employees of Total [de crimes de guerre], it’s very serious, it’s an insult, (…) it’s not acceptable, he reacts. Mr. Jadot spends his time speaking ill of my company. What I observe is that it lowers him in the polls; He better get on with his campaign and stop insulting us.”
A few hours later, Yannick Jadot holds his position and replies to the business manager in a tweet that, despite the “concessions” of TotalEnergies, the company “maintains most of its activities in Russia” and then arises in ” accomplice” in the crimes perpetrated by Vladimir Putin’s army against the Ukrainian people. He also calls on Patrick Pouyanné to “debate” with him.
Act 3: Total attacks Jadot for defamation
The debate will probably not take place on a television set, but rather in court. TotalEnergies indicated the same day that it had initiated “immediately a defamation action” against the environmentalist candidate. In a statement sent to AFP, TotalEnergies denounces “unacceptable comments”, “extremely serious and unfounded”.
“Being an ‘accomplice in war crimes’ means providing direct aid to a State or to a criminal organization that is the perpetrator of the crimes, indicates the group. Your remarks are particularly serious and unfounded against our company which does not operate any oil field or gas in Russia”. Denouncing an “insult to the integrity of [ses] teams”, TotalEnergies affirms to continue “its gas purchase operations in Russia to resell it, in particular in Europe for the benefit of European consumers”, all “in strict compliance with the policy of the European Union and the measures of applicable European sanctions”.
Several environmental leaders then stepped up to defend their candidate. “No procedure will silence the environmentalists”, assures in particular the deputy Delphine Batho, head of the spokespersons for Yannick Jadot.
Act 4: Yannick Jadot persists and signs
Nothing stops Yannick Jadot in his strike against the French oil giant. During a press conference held on Wednesday, the MEP confirmed his position: “I persist and I sign: Total is a large French group which brings France into disrepute (…) I accuse Total of being accomplices war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine by being aware of the atrocities and by working with the oligarchs targeted by international sanctions”, insists Yannick Jadot.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging French companies to leave Russia in front of French parliamentarians, Yannick Jadot blushes in front of journalists by denouncing the situation: “The lives of Ukrainians are worth more than Total’s profits”.
In front of the press, the candidate, who is calling for an embargo on Russian gas and oil, insists that “Total’s profits are made on the backs of motorists, the climate and Ukrainians”. He adds that he is “the only candidate who has made his project the end of energy dependencies and complacency”, attacking President Emmanuel Macron in passing. “Pouyanné says ‘I am following the instructions’. Obviously he is supported in his activities by the Head of State” who, according to him, is responsible for “imposing Total’s withdrawal” from Russia.
Yannick Jadot did not wait for a new reaction from Total to reaffirm his position and, this Thursday morning, reiterated his accusations on the set of France info. “I confirm, I persist, I accuse TotalEnergies of being complicit in war crimes in Ukraine”, supports the MEP who accuses the group of working with “Russian partners who are very close to the highest level of the summit of the ‘Putinian state”, explaining that “through his activities he contributes to financing groups linked to this war and that is called complicity in war crimes”.
This affront to Total, a company often targeted by environmental NGOs, is also a way of expressing its identity as an environmentalist in favor of renewable energies and a destroyer of fossil fuels, when it is credited with around 6% in voting intentions. .