Truck drivers, fishermen protest over fuel prices

Dozens of lorries and taxis blocked a motorway leading into Paris's main financial district yesterday in a protest against high fuel prices.

Hundreds of farmers also blocked the largest oil depot in France's second city Lyon and truckers continued to blockade an oil refinery near the Mediterranean port city of Marseille.

Fishermen, truckers and farmers have staged numerous protests over the past month to try to pressure the government into helping them after oil costs doubled in a year.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered some aid, especially to the fishing industry, but his room for manoeuvre is limited by the European Union which is opposed to targeted state subsidies or cuts in fuel tax.

Around 60 lorry and taxi drivers brought morning rush hour traffic in Paris to a standstill on a major route leading to the La Defense business district, which houses the headquarters of French oil giant Total.

"We wanted to make the public and government really aware of the extremely critical situation faced by the haulage industry," said Gilles Mathelie-Guinlet, head of the OTRE truckers group.

Truckers want low-cost diesel reserved for professional users. They argue that they negotiate fuel costs with their clients at the start of the year and should be allowed to lock in that price for a full 12 months.

"The government has to assume its responsibilities and help our sector get out of this problem so we can continue to have a haulage industry in France," said Mathelie-Guinlet.

The fuel protests have spread to other European countries including Spain, Italy, Belgium and Portugal, and show no sign of abating in France where pressure on the streets regularly forces significant concessions from governments.

France has floated the idea of a Europe-wide cap on sales tax levied on fuel but other European Union states have given the idea a lukewarm response.

British fishermen protested in central London yesterday to demand urgent government aid to protect them from rising fuel costs.

A survival package was needed as a matter of utmost urgency to save the industry from "horrendous" consequences, officials said.

Barrie Deas, chief executive of the UK's National Federation of Fishermen's Organizations, said the cost of fuel for fishing boats was making it impossible for many in the industry to keep going.

"Boats are going out to sea and fish for five days in terrible conditions and we're not getting enough to even pay our crews," he said.

"It is a matter of the utmost urgency that ministers put together a survival package for the fishing industry."

He said the industry knew it must adjust to high fuel costs but it need an "orderly transition, otherwise the fallout in terms of businesses, lives and communities will be horrendous".

The government should provide the same support that was being offered by other countries like Spain and France, urged Deas.

Agencies

(China Daily 06/04/2008 page17)