It is not yet 5 am this April 1st. Waiting in the parking lot of a petrol station bordering a Strasbourg expressway, Franck, who works in an industrial cleaning company, waits in a corner, engine off. Yet there is not a cat at the pump. Should fuel prices not drop by 18 cents today? No queues, no cars registered in Germany as was the case in the past weeks. And for good reason, the price terminal still displays prices well above 2 euros per litre…
Bad April Fools? Asked, the gas station attendant pretends not to be too aware: “We paid a high price for it but maybe when the team changes at 6 a.m., they will change the prices. In the meantime, Franck is patient. “I waited until the last drop and there frankly with the expected drop, it’s worth the wait but I thought it was done since midnight, but it’s going to pay me my lunch. “Same topo in the city center in another sign. “The pumps are reset at 6 a.m., we have to wait for the shift change, kindly replies the pump attendant. “There will be a reduction of 18 cents? “No, 15 cents.” “It’s good all the same, tries a motorist, even if I have the impression that the price had increased in recent days, so the reduction is less visible. Not enough to annoy Jacqueline, met a little later in the morning at another station. “Below 2 euros with everything that is happening at the moment, it is still good, I will finally be able to go see my children this weekend, explains the retiree. “Don’t take us for idiots either… grumbles Hervé. It’s that less taxes, we’ll end up paying anyway, it’s done for the elections.
Cheaper than in Germany
Ernst, a fifty-year-old from Kehl who came specially to refuel, displays a big smile. “Today, the Germans love Mr. Macron! “he assures. David, he “doesn’t give a damn about French politics”. This resident of Kehl, in Germany, came to take advantage of this first day of the government system, even if it meant queuing, like many other of his compatriots. It must be said that the low-cost station is only a few hundred meters from the border. “Even if fuel taxes have decreased in Germany in recent days, it is still around 30 cents more expensive than here! he says. For his part, Philippe, a pensioner from Strasbourg, “is a little surprised to see the Germans benefit from this reduction of 15 to 18 centimes, “financed” by the French State. “While acknowledging that this “is only local” and that “it’s been forty years that it’s been in the opposite direction. It is normally cheaper in Germany. “Benjamin, a Franco-German, does not ask himself any questions and “just hopes that it will last” because “it is still too expensive. Everyone needs their car, ”says the young man.
The line lengthens. At the pumps, inscriptions on A4 sheets taped hastily invite customers to first pay at the checkout. “To avoid theft” we are told. At the checkout, the gas station attendant is not idle and goes through transactions. “The Germans easily represent 50% of the customers,” she explains. But don’t worry, the station had prepared this first day of decline. “The tanks are almost full. It will be fine, ”assures the gas station attendant, delighted with such an influx…