Contrary to popular myth, on the English side of the Channel, at least, the French can queue. Across the country thousands of men and women have for days sat patiently in their vehicles waiting their turn to fill up their tanks with petrol. Tempers have frayed on occasion, which is no surprise given what is at stake.
An opinion poll on Wednesday stated that two in three French people’s livelihoods have taken a hit because of the petrol shortage, a consequence of strike action at four refineries and a storage facility because of a wage dispute.
Nonetheless, the same poll disclosed that 42 per cent of people support the strike action, compared to 40 per cent who don’t, with the ire of people directed primarily at Emmanuel Macron and his government. Nearly eight in ten believe the president has not handled the three-week strike well.
This is music to the ears of the hard-left union behind the strike, the CGT (Confédération Générale du Travail), for years the scourge of successive governments.
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