“A margin of a few cents”: 2,500 independent service stations will display detailed fuel prices

Who benefits from rising fuel prices? Since the start of the war in the Middle East on February 28, prices at the pump have been soaring. On Tuesday, diesel remained above two euros per liter and gasoline was approaching this threshold. Faced with this “fuel crisis”, the “40 million motorists” association announced this Thursday, March 19, an initiative carried out jointly with the National Automobile Federation (FNA), called “operation transparency”.

From this Thursday, 2,500 service stations independent of the FNA network will display at their checkout “an educational sheet concretely explaining the composition of the price of a liter of fuel”, explain the association and the FNA in a press release. According to this sheet, of the 2 euros paid per liter by the motorist, the margins of the service station are “8 cents including tax/L” on average.

This approach “aims to provide total transparency to motorists and to highlight the economic reality hidden behind the price displayed at the pump,” say the FNA and the association. Because, they insist, service stations “are not responsible for the surge in prices at the pump”.

“When we look at the composition of the price of a liter of fuel, we see that the margin of service stations represents only a few cents,” insists Aliou Sow, secretary general of the National Automobile Federation, quoted in the press release. “Independent stations are not the ones taking advantage of the situation,” he insists.

The State, the big winner?

According to this breakdown of the price of a liter of fuel, “around 60% corresponds to taxes or contributions”, underline the association and the FNA. For “40 million motorists”, who had already alerted through a petition about a “tax drift”, “the big winner is not the service station, but indeed the State”, denounces Philippe Nozière, president of the association.

The latter continues to call for “a national debate on fuel taxation” in order to “reduce the tax pressure”. “The French have the right to know where their money is going. If the price at the pump has become unbearable for so many households, it is because the tax on fuel has become a real economic heresy,” adds Pierre Chasseray, general delegate of the “40 million motorists” association.

The FNA and the association are calling on all service stations that wish to join the operation. “The more stations that participate, the greater the transparency on prices at the pump will be,” they estimate.

A reduction in taxes not “considered at this stage”

Questioned this Thursday morning on BFMTV about a possible reduction in taxes on fuels, government spokesperson Maud Bregeon indicated that this scenario “is not envisaged as we speak” and that the situation had “nothing to do” with 2022, when energy prices had increased after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“On the other hand, we hear the difficulties, for example on the cash flow” of different sectors such as transporters or fishermen, received in turn at Bercy, she said.

Maud Bregeon explained that the government “no longer had the means to do whatever it took” as during the Covid epidemic and had to hold the public deficit to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP), recalling having made “the choice” in the 2026 budget to “not increase French taxes”.

A meeting on energy was planned for this Thursday at the end of the morning with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. This meeting aims to “take stock of the situation to consider the different possibilities depending on the duration of the conflict, depending on the difficulty faced by the economic sectors”, explained Maud Bregeon, adding that “all options are on the table”.