Reunion President succeeds in call for freeze of fuel tax

In a statement released during the evening of Tuesday, November 20, the President of Region Reunion, Didier Robert, said he had asked the French government in Paris for a waiver on the increase of the fuel tax. A new mechanism for increases must be validated in Plenary Assembly he added.

Didier Robert, the President of the Region Meeting, expressed this on Tuesday in the early evening by way of a press release. After reporting his support for the yellow vest, which he believes is “legitimate fighting,” he explains that he has asked the government for a waiver for Reunion on the fuel tax increase for the next 3 years.

A request he made to the Minister of Overseas, Annick Girardin, with whom he had met earlier in the afternoon. He adds: “We will have at the next Plenary Assembly to validate this new mechanism that will block the increase in the fuel tax for all Reunion motorists in 2019, 2020 and 2021.”

Didier Robert believes that the increase of this tax, imposed by the law at the national level is one of the subjects of tension in this crisis. He added: “We must move forward together in a spirit of unity and responsibility to get the government strong enough to respond to the desperation of many families.”

STOP PRESS – Didier Robert succeeds in freezing the tax

Didier Robert, the President of the Regional Council of Reunion has negotiated and obtained last Wednesday the freeze of the special tax on fuel consumption for three years. This tax, in force in the overseas departments, was to increase significantly in 2019, 2020, 2021.

The situation had been extremely tense on the island of Reunion since the launch of the yellow vests movement last Saturday. The island, faced with an outbreak of violence, decided to close schools, the international airport, crèches, and administrations. At the origin of this disturbance is the same movement that blocked the France metropole for a week

In Reunion Island, the call by the Yellow Vests movement was in part, due to the special tax on fuel consumption, the equivalent of the TICPE, domestic consumption tax on energy products, on the island and the prospect of its rising increase for the next three years. Last Wednesday, Didier Robert, asked the French Government and the Minister of Overseas, a derogation on the increase of the fuel tax. This tax will now be frozen during the next three years.

This tax, passed last December by the Region at the request of the State, is a regional particularity. The State wanted this special tax only in force in the DOM, to be aligned with the TICPE, in force in mainland France. It is one of the main demands of Yellow Vests Reunion and their fight is, in the eyes of Didier Robert, president of the region, “legitimate”, as he said in a statement.

This tax freeze is, for Didier Robert, president of the regional council, an “urgent decision.” Freezing them, we meet the expectations of the protesters and also anticipate happenings for the next three years, “he said in the newspaper from the island.

This translates to the lead free at 22%, for diesel, 5%. At the pump, this translates into a diesel fuel at 1.28 euro per liter. The lead-free him is at 1.56 euro per liter, in November 2018.

Source: La rédaction de LCI