Paris (AFP)
The Minister for Ecological Transition, Elisabeth Borne, condemned "very firmly" on Wednesday the power cuts and road blockades in several regions at the initiative of strikers of the CGT, saying that "there is no right to blockages, threats, savage cuts ".
"What happened is serious, when we have tens of thousands of homes that have been deprived of electricity, and then, in Lyon, five clinics, a metro station, a fire station," observed the Minister asked about France Inter.
"I condemn very firmly and I asked the leaders of RTE and Enedis to file a complaint systematically," she said. "It's called an illegal act," added CNews Secretary of State for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.
"Like any illegal act, (...) it is criminally reprehensible. Those who play with the law today, those who are identified, will obviously be prosecuted," he added.
Elisabeth Borne called the CGT secretary general, Philippe Martinez, to account. "I ask Philippe Martinez to clarify his position on this subject", because "we are very far from normal modes of action, from what we can expect from a large union," continued the minister. "It is a very small minority, she made it clear, I do not confuse with all the agents who serve the public."
Asked about the subject, Mr. Martinez repeated on BFMTV that "these cuts are targeted" and that he "understood the agents' anger". "When we cut the prefecture, I don't know if the building next door isn't cut, so here it is," he said.
"I heard Elisabeth Borne earlier, she is more quick to say + be careful with the cuts + than to respond to the demands of the employees," he added. "Spitting on the public energy service you understand that it annoys a little," he said.
"We must stop making fun of them and take them for fools," he added.
Asked also about several roadblocks installed Wednesday morning in the Nice region, Elisabeth Borne was critical of all of these blockages: "we have in our country a right to strike, a right to demonstrate, but there is no there is no right to blockages, to threats to savage cuts ".
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