MADRID, 16 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Public Accounts of the French Government, Gabriel Attal, has criticized this Sunday the blockade of up to five Total refineries and has warned that their maintenance is “unacceptable” in particular because “majority agreements have been reached to increase salaries “.
“Of course there is the right to strike, but at some point the country must also be able to function. What is certain is that there are some trade unionists who sometimes give the impression of being above the interests of millions of French” , Attal pointed out in an interview on Europe 1.
Despite the agreements, “there is a union that continues with the blockade.” “That seems incomprehensible to me,” she said. For Attal it is “a disturbance of public order.”
In addition, Attal has defended the government’s measures. “We have put very strong pressure on companies and unions to come to the table. (Prime Minister) Elisabeth Borne spent the week on the phone or in meetings with company leaders and unions. We took the necessary measures to improve the situation by circulating more trucks importing fuel from Belgium,” he said.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader Marine Le Pen has pointed to the Government because “it does not control anything and is never anticipated”. “It is the Government that should have pushed Total, given its exceptional results, to negotiate to obtain a salary increase”, has argued.
“The problem with this government is that it is always the fault of others,” Le Pen said during his speech on a BFMTV television program. Le Pen has thus defended the need to tax the profits of these companies because if it is not done “it creates a feeling of injustice”.
Thus, Le Pen has advocated convening “a great conference on wages”, affected by high inflation, and intervene in markets such as electricity.
Precisely this Sunday a large demonstration against the cost of living organized by the New Popular Ecologist and Social Union (NUPES), which brings together the French political left, is being held in Paris.
