Strikes become a risk for Macron

Paris When the long queues at French gas stations were discussed, Emmanuel Macron seemed visibly annoyed: the shortage of petrol and diesel has nothing to do with the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, the President said in an interview with the television channel France 2 on Wednesday evening .

The cause is a collective bargaining dispute between unions and energy companies, which finally have to meet their responsibilities. “You can’t always pass the buck on the government,” Macron complained.

Workers at several refineries and fuel depots have been on strike for three weeks. For a week now, the French have been noticing the consequences more and more at the pumps: According to the Ministry of Energy, around a third of the gas stations in the country have recently had supply problems, in some areas, especially in the north of the country, the figure was more than 40 percent.