From our correspondent in Nice
In the trunk of the little Renault Berlingo, a jerry can fills up, then a second, and a third... And finally ten.
Davy is one of those Riviera residents tired of endless queues and hours spent finding a service station that still distributes Diesel or unleaded.
This landscaper, owner of a company on the heights of Nice, got up early this Thursday morning to go and fill his ten cans.
Not in France, but in Italy, about fifty kilometers from Nice.
“It becomes too complicated in France.
I have ten construction vehicles to run, it mobilizes people for nothing.
And then, waiting to refuel is a waste of time and especially money.
So what do I do?
If we can't work anymore, do I put everyone on forced or unpaid leave?
It's not possible,”
he grumbles.
LIVE - The CGT, FO, Solidaires and FSU call for an interprofessional strike day Tuesday, October 18
For more than a week, the fuel crisis continues to worsen on the national territory, thanks to the strike movement in several refineries.
On October 5, the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, assured that there was no shortage of fuel, only “
temporary supply tensions”
.
The next day, the Minister for Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier Runnacher predicted a way out of the crisis
“within two to three days”
.
Result: this Thursday nearly one in three service stations still faces a shortage, at least partial, of fuel.
In Nice, it's one in two.
Read alsoFuel: which departments have suffered the most since the start of the shortage?
Despite announcements on Wednesday by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne of requisitioning striking employees to release fuel stocks and refuel service stations, the puzzle is not resolved.
Freeing up strategic stocks and increasing imports are not enough either.
“We serve more French than Italians today”
While the house is burning, some French people are looking elsewhere, beyond the borders.
To Italy, in this case.
There, there is no shortage, and no queues either.
In addition, while a prefectural decree limits, in the Alpes-Maritimes, the distribution to 30 liters per outlet for most vehicles, no limit is set in Italy.
It is also possible to fill jerrycans, which is now prohibited in the French department.
Read alsoFuels: the galley of Ile-de-France residents in the face of gasoline shortages
From Nice, the first gas station is in Ventimiglia - about an hour's journey, via the motorway which overlooks Monaco, Cap Martin and Menton.
An ENI station wedged between the side of a rocky hillside and the white water of the Roya which flows a little lower into the Mediterranean.
The ENI station in Ventimiglia, the closest to the border.
Nicholas Daguin.
This Thursday morning, from 8 a.m., the plates registered "06" (the Alpes-Maritimes) parade.
“We serve more French people than Italians today.
If this is the crisis, as long as it lasts!
exclaims, full of irony, Felice Troccoli, the owner of the station.
In fact, more than one vehicle in two that comes to the pump is French.
For a few liters of Super
“I often come to Ventimiglia, but usually it's to pick up my cigarettes. Today is to refuel. I don't even try to do it in France anymore
,” explains Nathalie, who lives in the hinterland of Nice.
“Still, I'm fine, I don't work too much so I have time.
But my daughter, who works in an office, stood in line Tuesday for two hours.
She went back there yesterday, in the middle of the night to be quiet.
This is not normal
,” she laments.
A young gas station attendant is overwhelmed.
He too is obviously not used to such activity at dawn.
The French ?
:
“Many, many!”
, he throws without even giving us time to finish our question.
And here he is already gone, his little pocket full of cash under his arm, to serve a "06" in diesel.
Read alsoÉlisabeth Borne at Figaro: “Rebellious France wants chaos, disorder, bazaar”
“Fuel is like water, we are ready to do anything to get it, it's vital. So we take gas where there is some!”
, comments on his side a motorist, who made the way from Grasse for a few liters of Super.
While it is now forbidden to fill jerry cans in the Alpes-Maritimes, many take the opportunity to fill up cans in Italy.
Nicolas Daguin
Thursday afternoon, strikers at the Fos-sur-Mer refinery (Bouches-du-Rhône) decided to lift their collective action, after 23 days of strike action and a few days after an agreement between management and two majority unions ( CFDT and CFE-CGC).
Management is proposing a 6.5% increase and a value-sharing bonus of 3,000 euros excluding participation and profit-sharing.
A first step to get out of the rut, when Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday evening on
France 2
, a return to normal
"within the week."