Fri 23 May, 2008
| Posted in: French fishermen continued to blockade several ports and fuel depots yesterday, despite a call from their leaders to accept the aid package offered to them by the government on Wednesday afternoon, writes Andrew Spurrier.
While their colleagues in northern France called off their action on Wednesday evening, others along the central and western Channel, Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts opted to continue their protests yesterday, claiming that the package fell far short of their demands for aid to enable them to cope with rocketing diesel fuel prices.
Accesses to two refineries in the Marseilles area were still being blocked yesterday, as were fuel depots at Port-La Nouvelle in south eastern France and La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast.
Strike action and other protests were also reported at numerous other west coast ports.
Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier offered the fishermen aid totalling €110m ($172m) this year, of which €40m was emergency funding to help fishermen cope with the effects of high fuel prices.
Mr Barnier also announced that he would implement a €310m aid plan over two instead of three years and press Economy Minister Christine Lagarde to meet the chief executive of French oil group Total to explore ways of reducing fishermen’s fuel prices.
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