SNCF strike, freight, aid to the SNCF, Pass Rail, highways: François Durovray answered questions from Jean-Jacques Bourdin.
“SNCF is a company which, once again, is making profits”
The question is on the lips of all French people: will the trains run at Christmas? “Oui“, assures François Durovray. “There is a social movement that is underway today but which will have very little impact. There was a dark December that was announced“, he admits. This generated a “great concern for the French“. “We spoke with the unions to explain our policy on freight“, explains François Durovray. He assures that he has reached an agreement with “two unions out of four“.
One of the causes of the SNCF strike was that “freight was under threat of a reimbursement of aid worth 2.5 billion euros which would have killed it“, recognizes François Durovray, who tempers. “We have a major freight development project. I am delighted that railway workers who work on freight have some development opportunities.“As for salary increases,”These are salary negotiations that take place at the company level and this is normal. Next year French salaries will increase by an average of 2.5%. We are average“. “SNCF is a company which, once again, is making profits, it is completely normal that employees can benefit from this.“And the 20 billion euros in subsidies? For François Durovray, we must be precise.”In the 20 billion, it is mentioned 7 billion which are granted by the regions, this corresponds to tolls, each time we go through a toll, it is paid. This is simply the use of the rails. In the regions, there are 6 billion euros linked to particularly advantageous pricing policies. It’s the region’s choice, it’s not the SNCF.“
“We can very well imagine nationalizing the highways”
To improve the mobility of the French, François Durovray worked on several projects, notably express coaches. “There are ten million French people who have no other choice than the car. The train cannot serve all areas, rather than putting trains in when there are no railway tracks, I propose express coaches, there is a plan that has been built with the regions.“It’s a”purchasing power proposal” car “we divide the mobility impact by ten“. Express coaches also allow their users to rest. The Rail Pass is also one of the subjects. “The regional presidents asked me to take stock“, announces François Durovray. The plane is also important because “we will always need the plane“. “Regional airports are important, the regions grant aid to airports which may be in deficit“, he explains, affirming however that there is “no subsidies.”
As motorway company contracts approach their end, François Durovray recalls that “the highways belong to the French, the role of the Minister of Transport is for the French to be heard. My job is to ensure that the contracts end well, we ensure that the highways are returned to the State in good condition. The question is what the future model will be; we can very well imagine nationalizing the highways.” The objective is to have “highways that are in good condition, an efficient mobility system, that we are able to ensure a good level for all of our infrastructures.“ François Durovray particularly regrets that the roads are in much worse condition than the highways. Finally, motorists will have to regret the reimbursement of public transport by the employer up to 75% from January. “There is still reimbursement of 50%, there was the possibility for companies to increase it to 75%, that’s gone, it’s one of the consequences of censorship, those who voted for it should have consider all the consequences.”
Electric vehicles: “We must stimulate demand”
While the French wait for a new Prime Minister, François Durovray hopes that the government will achieve stability. “I took the step of joining a government even though I never belonged to the presidential majority. One of the challenges if we want to stabilize is that a certain number of responsible elected officials are capable of having a pact.” Today, “we can no longer move forward. I have the feeling that the French are angry, I am still on the ground very regularly, our citizens are worried about the situation. They are waiting for elected officials, solutions, a government that moves forward.“
The French are also very worried about their purchasing power. However, François Durovray “assumes everything that appeared in the finance bill“. “Regarding the penalty, to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we must have vehicles that are lighter, as the years go by, there is a penalty that increases“. “We are in a moment where there is a race against time against the Chinese, we must tell the car manufacturers that we must accelerate, accelerate, accelerate, there is a manufacturer who told the President : “you know, we are in Death Valley”. Car manufacturers need to be able to move faster.” Or, “the objectives are not achieved because demand is lower than the other, so we must stimulate demand, encourage companies to buy vehicles, offer aid to individuals.“
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