Will the French be able to go on All Saints holidays?
With one week to go until the holidays begin on Friday, October 21, no visible improvement seems to be taking shape at service stations still facing fuel shortages.
Concern is starting to rise on the side of many motorists: “
I will have to get up at five in the morning to try to find a place to fill up
,” worries Michel, who plans to go to Paris from Toulouse by car.
The situation darkened further on Thursday afternoon when the CGT-Cheminots and Sud-Rail called for a strike on Tuesday 18 October.
With the looming threat of a renewal of the movement.
No petrol for many and now a risk on the trains for the end of the week...
Asked Wednesday evening on France 2, the President of the Republic wanted to be reassuring by announcing a return to normal "
in the course of next week
" in petrol stations.
To do this, the government is betting on a quick end to the strike and requisitions.
The Fos-sur-Mer refinery has just restarted and the Port-Jérôme and Dunkirk depots have reopened.
Read alsoFuel shortage: can we expect a return to normal "in the course of" next week?
These decisions should enable a rapid improvement in supply.
In particular thanks to the reopening of the pipeline linking Port-Jérôme to Île-de-France.
Shortages are not expected to disappear.
“
I am worried
”, admits Francis Pousse, president of Mobilians, “
not only the depots of Gennevilliers
(at the end of the pipeline)
will have to supply the capital in crying shortage, but also other regions such as Hauts-de- France or Grand Est, also in difficulty
”.
In addition, this reopening could only be temporary.
The CGT and FO accuse the requisitions of not being legal and are preparing an urgent appeal before the administrative court.
An action that takes “
a few days
” according to Christophe Aubert, union coordinator for Esso.
If necessary, the floodgates would close before holidaymakers even have time to fill up.
“The All Saints holidays are going to be a disaster”
Even in the event of validation, reopening the depots without restarting the production of the refineries will only be useful for a time.
Stocks in Port-Jérôme, like those in Dunkirk, are limited.
About two weeks for the first, unknown for the second, classified as a sensitive site.
A deadline which must be used to hold until the end with the strike
.
But even in the case of a rapid exit from the strike in the refineries, it will take "
ten days, two weeks
" to relaunch them and bring the finished product to consumers, according to Francis Pousse.
A weakness of which the strikers are well aware.
“
The stocks of fuel freed up thanks to requisitions are a drop in the bucket, it will not change the shortage
“, launches boldly Reynald Prévost, FO coordinator of the Port-Jérôme refinery, who predicts that “
the All Saints holidays will be a disaster
”.
Not everyone is so alarmist.
For Didier Arino, president of the Protourisme cabinet, an easing of the shortage, even slight, can have a strong psychological effect and avoid the "
filling effects
", which partially contribute to the difficulties.
In addition, he recalls that the situation is much less tense in certain regions.
He therefore hopes that the many French people who have planned to leave will get there: "
The more complicated the situation, the more people want to go on vacation to breathe
," he points out.
Read alsoFuel crisis: which refineries and depots are affected by the strike?
Yet quick to define itself as an alternative to the car, the train does not seem to benefit massively from a postponement of travel.
“
It is still too early, we will have a better view of reservations in the middle of next week
”, points out the SNCF, which does not currently plan to increase the number of places available.
The trains still have to run...