Strikes in France. A black market is emerging due to fuel shortages

In France, members of the TotalEnergies and Esso-ExxonMobil unions continue strikes and blockades of refineries on Wednesday despite a work order announced the day before by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. You are creating a black market in fuel where gasoline is sold at higher prices.

About a third of stations in France are still out of fuel due to the three-week strike by trade unionists and employees of both companies. At the same time, for three euros and more per liter, you can buy gasoline on the Internet, which is illegally resold by traders.

Access to the service station in Paris on Tuesday, where it had just been filled with fuel, was blocked for other drivers by a group of 10 people who filled their cans from the dispensers, not allowing the rest.

“I am shocked. (…) They bring cans, containers and fill them with petrol, which they then sell (online) for three euros a liter!” – one of the drivers was indignant, quoted by the newspaper Le Parisien.

In Creteil, near Paris, police arrested five people who bought 50 liters of fuel and tried to sell it for € 3.50 per liter.

“With the growing shortage of gas, a parallel market has emerged and we are dealing with growing violations,” a representative of the Marne Valley department in the Ile-de-France region in Paris admitted on BFM TV.

The government has asked the prefects to ban the filling of containers from distributors. For this he will have to serve up to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 3,750 euros.

Meanwhile, many professional drivers have announced downtime. Nurses, babysitters and doctors cancel home visits due to lack of fuel and inability to go to patients and charges.

Prime Minister Borne issued a return to work administrative order for refinery employees on pain of up to six months’ imprisonment and a 10,000 zloty fine. EUR. On Wednesday morning, the execution began at the ExxonMobil refinery in Granchon-Port-Jerome. The workers voted to continue the strike.

Katarzyna Stańko from Paris (PAP)

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