The “big polluter” or “craftsman of social damage” awards do not yet exist, but the Legion of Honor still holds the upper hand. Climate inaction thinly veiled in greenwashing, huge salaries when the big incomes of CAC40 bosses have never been so criticized, resistance to salary increases in the midst of inflation despite the company’s very good results, refusal of taxation of superprofits… Despite all of his work this year, Patrick Pouyanné, boss of TotalEnergies, who had been made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 2015, was promoted to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor.
An honorary decoration for the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor which thus describes the last promotion published this Friday, July 14 at the Official newspaper : “VSThis elite of merit brought together in its great diversity by the commitment of each to the service of the general interest, the primary criterion for awarding the highest French national distinction.But a reward that is quite an affront to the left and environmentalists.
“Big prank”
The rebellious MEP Manon Aubry joked about this “legion of honor of the destruction of the planet and tax evasion“, just like his colleague deputy Thomas Portes who recalled the financial and ecological excesses of the tanker. “This big farce on the 100 days of appeasement will therefore end with a huge finger of honor to climate change and to the millions of French people who skip meals because of inflation ”, outbid rebellious MP Alma Dufour.
It must be said that Patrick Pouyanné has stood out from them in recent months, and rarely for the right reasons. In October 2022, energy employees and mainly those of TotalEnergies refineries had walked off the job for several days to demand wage increases. A social crisis that led to blockages, as well as a shortage of fuel, before the government gave the order to requisition. It took several weeks for the management of Total to come to the negotiating table and reach an agreement with the unions.
During this time, the company’s profits continued to increase and even reached record amounts. The voices rose on the left to demand a taxation of exceptional superprofits while the portfolio of the French was more and more eaten away by inflation. To restore the image of his box damaged by his polluting activity, his superprofits and the social movement of October, Patrick Pouyanné was kind enough to pay the 2022 taxes of his company in France “to avoid further controversyhe had declared.
Since financial aberrations were not enough for TotalEnergies, a large dossier supporting the company’s “climaticide” reputation crowned Pouyanné’s CV: the Tilenga oil drilling project, and that of the EACOP (East African Crude Oil Pipeline) pipeline. ) in Uganda and Tanzania, the two flagship sites of the mega oil project contested and denounced by NGOs as “ecocidal excesses“.