The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is facing the biggest challenge of his second term as long-running oil depot and refinery blockades create fuel shortages, transport workers join the strike for higher wages and the government prepares to force its budget through parliament without a vote, unable to find a compromise with the opposition.
The leftwing CGT union on Tuesday voted to extend stoppages at several oil refineries and depots operated by the French energy giant TotalEnergies, as they demanded an immediate 10% pay rise to counter the cost of living crisis and a share of companies’ profits amid the surge in energy prices heightened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The three-week strike continued to seriously disrupt fuel distribution across the country, particularly in northern and central France and the Paris region – in some areas 50% of petrol stations had run dry. Across the country 28% of petrol stations were out of fuel.
Amid anger at the government ordering certain refinery and oil depot strikers off the picket line and back to work, regional train workers and bus drivers across France joined the movement for a daylong strike over wages on Tuesday. There was disruption to regional train networks and buses, including local trains services to the Paris suburbs. Some school staff also went on strike, as well as nuclear energy workers.
Trade union members marched in towns and cities across France. Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT union, said at the Paris march that the government needed to act on the “emergency” of workers struggling with the cost of living at a time of inflation.
The French government argues that its cap on gas and electricity price increases has cushioned the blow of the cost-of-living crisis in France. French inflation has hit 6.2%, which is the lowest among the 19 countries that use the euro currency, according to the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat. By comparison, in the UK, inflation is expected to peak at about 11% in October.
French workers at the street protests said salaries were too low to make ends meet. Other trade unions on the left warned of further strike action against any potential raising of the pension age.
Meanwhile, a parliament standoff over next year’s budget underlined Macron’s weakened position since his centrist grouping lost its absolute majority in elections last spring, falling about 40 seats short of the absolute majority needed to pass laws.
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally is now the biggest single opposition party in parliament, while the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party is the biggest leftwing party in a broad coalition known as the Nupes, which includes the Socialists and Greens.
Without a clear majority, the government has seen days of rowdy and heated parliamentary debate on its budget, including the tabling of thousands of amendments such as the introduction of tax on “super-dividends”, which the government opposes.
The prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, is now preparing this week to used a rare and controversial form of constitutional decree to push through the budget without a vote, in order to stay true to Macron’s pro-business economic agenda. Even senior ministers admitted the move would not be popular among voters. Manuel Bompard of La France Insoumise said the government was acting “by force”.
If the government does use the rare constitutional decree, lawmakers on the left and far-right have said they would call for a no-confidence vote to force the government’s resignation. But that vote is highly unlikely to pass, because the rightwing party, Les Républicains, has said it will not join a bid to bring Macron’s administration down.
