“many points were left unresolved”, according to the collective against the high cost of fuel

During a press conference organized on Wednesday November 6 in Bastia, the collective “Agissons against the high cost of fuel in Corsica” wanted to “relaunch the issue” on the price of gasoline on the island, while evoking ” record profits” for certain oil groups.

“We want to relaunch the issue of the high cost of fuel in Corsica.”

This was the subject of the press conference organized on Wednesday November 6 in Bastia by the collective “Action against the high cost of fuel in Corsica”.

Frédéric Poletti and Jean-Marc Andreani, representatives of the collective, spoke in particular of the benefits of certain companies on the island.

“In 2023, the cumulative profits of Total Corse, Vito Corse and Corsica Oil Depots (DPLC) reached €11 million, a record, they indicate. These profits resulted in 10.7 million euros in dividends, another record. These dividends were confiscated from the insular economic sphere to be paid to Total France and Rubis.”

Concerning the DPLC, the collective argues that they “experienced a drop in stored volumes of 3.4% in 2023 and its turnover fell by only 0.21%”. And to deduce: “This suggests that storage costs have increased to compensate for the decline in activity.”

For some time now, on the island, prices at the pump have fallen slightly and have fallen back below the 2 euros per liter mark. However, in its argument, the association repeatedly mentions a “inaction” regarding this matter.

If the Corsican Assembly voted in the fall of 2021 for a deliberation requesting the establishment of price regulation in island service stations, the collective believes that this “request was poorly formulated”.

However, he specifies that this made it possible “the automatic referral to the Competition Authority for alleged practices in the sector of supply, storage and distribution of fuels in Corsica”.

But since then, for the collective, “not much happened anymore”.

“In this case many points were left unresolved. For example, in 2021, in front of all the territorial advisors, the president of the executive council of Corsica claimed to have launched two studies: the first on distribution on the Island biofuels and less polluting fuels; the second concerned an impact study on price regulation. The results were expected in October 2021. Since then… Nothing.”

Price regulation had led to exchanges of letters, in particular with the Minister of the Economy at the time, Bruno Lemaire, who had referred the matter to the General Council of the Economy (CGE), Industry and Energy. and technologies, as well as that of the environment and sustainable development.

“Since… Nothing yet!”, points out the collective before discussing the Beauvau process.

“During the last meeting of the social conference, the president of the executive of Corsica asked us if we agreed that the social aspect be integrated into the discussions of the Beauvau process. All the participants, including us We voted in favor, but we insisted that if there were any blocking points regarding institutional developments, this would not impact the discussions on the social aspect. To hear, in recent months, elected officials from the territorial majority assert that to obtain regulation of fuel prices, it was first necessary to obtain autonomy. This is completely false and it is not us who! let's say, it's the Competition Authority.”

The collective says “also very surprised by the inaction of this same majority in the face of the takeover by an American investment fund of DPLC via Rubis terminal. However, it is an essential infrastructure for our island.”underlines Frédéric Poletti who indicates having requested a meeting with the new prefect of Corsica, Jérôme Filippini, “which comes from a territory, Reunion, where prices are precisely regulated due to a monopoly (that of the Rubis group)”.

Representatives of “Act against the high cost of fuel in Corsica” also asked to meet Minister Catherine Vautrin, now in charge of the file relating to the institutional development of the island.