France’s Le Maire urges TotalEnergies to maintain cap on fuel prices

PARIS (Reuters) – French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he wanted French oil giant TotalEnergies (EPA:) to maintain a cap on fuel prices beyond Dec. 31, adding his priority was to accelerate the fight against inflation.

Le Maire also told Franceinfo radio French inflation was easing but not fast enough.

“It’s up to (TotalEnergies CEO) Patrick Pouyanne to take this decision, but I welcome the choice that Total has made over the past several months and…I trust him to take into consideration the difficulties of our compatriots”, Le Maire said.

Pouyanne said last week that the company, which at the end of August announced it would extend the cap on fuel prices at 1.99 euros per litre until the end of this year, could consider prolonging the measure in 2024.

“This measure will be applied until the end of the year. We will look at the issue for 2024,” he said.