2023-05-09 16:38:56
The government puts pressure. Invited to CNews on Tuesday, the Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher reiterated her calls to fuel distributors for prices to “fall faster”. “I told the fuel distributors: the price at the pump must reflect as closely as possible that on the international oil markets, which are today on the decline”, she declared in particular.
Crude oil prices have been hovering since the beginning of May around $70-75 a barrel, returning to levels not seen since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.
The SP95 16% more expensive than before the war in Ukraine
Prices are falling in France, but not “fast enough” and not as fast as “in other countries” in the eyes of the minister. According to a survey of BFM Business, France is the only country in Europe where gasoline remains significantly more expensive than before the start of the war in Ukraine. The SP95 still costs 16% more than before the conflict. On Friday, Agnès Pannier-Runacher reacted to her figures on her Twitter account.
“I asked the distributors to pass on the drop as quickly as possible to the prices at the pump,” she wrote, also judging “unacceptable that companies increase their margins on the backs of the French”. “And if the blockages have had an impact on the costs, let this be communicated transparently,” she added, referring to the social movements in the energy sector against the pension reform.
According to Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire will have the opportunity to “re-discuss” this subject “with all the distributors within the framework of the meeting on the fight against inflation”, scheduled for Thursday.
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