Distrust has lasted too long for the government. After the threats on Monday and the announcement before the Assembly of the requisitions of refinery personnel by Elisabeth Borne, it’s time for action. “The requisition will begin today”, assures the Ministry of Energy Transition, of the personnel “essential to the operation” of the Esso-ExxonMobil refinery depot in Gravenchon-Port-Jérôme.
It remains to be seen what form this requisition will take. Before dawn, around fifty striking employees of the refinery voted by a show of hands to continue the strike, at the foot of the factory, where pallets are burning and without a police presence around. In 2010, under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, the epilogue had been brutal.
Not sure, however, that the requisitions will solve the fuel shortage. For the depots, the restart will be immediate because quite simple, since it will suffice to open the valves for the trucks. This is the option chosen for the moment by the government in Gravenchon-Port-Jérôme. But “if there is a requisition to restart production at the refinery, it will take at least two weeks”, explains Gil Vilard, of CGT Esso in Fos-sur-Mer, one of the two Esso refineries stopped. .