Because of the Iran war, fuel prices have risen.Image: keystone
The government in Paris is pushing down gasoline prices – without putting a strain on public finances. Could the political trick also be transferable to Switzerland?
May 16, 2026, 2:55 p.mMay 16, 2026, 2:55 p.m
France’s treasury is empty and the treasury is heavily in debt. But the car-driving population is pushing with all its might for a reduction in petrol prices. Because in a country where citizens are used to making tight calculations, every additional centime at the pump weighs heavily on their wallets.
To avoid an uprising, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is proving to be creative. He persuaded the Total Energies company to temporarily freeze prices at its gas stations. Petrol is capped at 1.99 euros, diesel at 2.25 euros.
The once state-owned oil, gas and wind power giant, which was privatized in 1993, naturally acts as if it had decided on this step out of pure solidarity with the nation. In reality, it was an anticipatory defensive measure against popular anger: criticism of the “superprofits,” the huge profits of the big oil companies, is growing everywhere.
Total Energies, formed from the merger of Total and Elf Aquitaine, made a net profit of $5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026 alone. This puts the French in the middle of the field compared to the other world market leaders Exxon, BP, Shell and Chevron. The oil companies owe this primarily to the increased barrel price, which is affecting the entire rest of the global economy.
Publicity for oil companies
Lecornu relatively quickly won Total Energies boss Patrick Pouyanné over to his project. The government had two other options: reducing the “Taxe intérieure de consommation sur les produits énergétiques”, which accounts for no less than 68.3 percent of the price of gasoline in France, would have bled the state finances dry, as would state subsidies on the price of gasoline. Even President Emmanuel Macron, who emptied the state treasury in times of Covid and inflation with the slogan “Whatever the cost,” was reportedly against state aid for drivers.
The price capping trick by a private company works. Total Energies is losing some revenue, but the seemingly selfless measure is the best advertising for the oil giant, and it also increases sales: In the first quarter of the year, the group increased sales by $10 billion compared to the previous year.
The other French fuel distributors, mainly supermarket chains such as Leclerc, Carrefour and Auchan, complain about the cap being imposed by an oil company that otherwise charges significantly higher prices than the major distributors. But they can’t complain too loudly about their main rival’s coup – after all, who would denounce gasoline prices as being too low in times of need?
Especially since the beneficiaries continue to drum up advertising. Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon calls the capping operation “a type of redistribution of gasoline price profits”; and Pouyanné went one better by magnanimously announcing that Total Energies was exceptionally lowering the price of diesel from 2.25 to 2.09 euros over the May holidays so that his compatriots could still go on the long weekends.
Does everyone have to join in?
The Association of Independent Gas Station Operators has angrily announced that it will refer the matter to the national competition authority. But the chances of success are minimal. The supermarket chains need to consider whether they want to follow suit and lower their prices per liter. Because every driver who fills their tank elsewhere – usually from Total Energies – is usually one less customer at the supermarket. If the major distributors also cap prices, Lecornu can be even more happy.
Despite the Total Energies trick, many consumers with notoriously high fuel consumption can hardly make ends meet as long as prices continue to rise. The government in Paris is therefore still reaching into its pockets, albeit in a very limited manner. Lecornu has just promised help of 50 euros to around 3 million frequent travelers; Small construction companies with fewer than 20 employees receive 20 cents per kilometer, capped at 4,000 euros.
In most cases, however, it seems hardly conceivable whether other European governments could follow France’s example. The prerequisite for the financial coup is the existence of a dominant oil company that controls prices at will. Total Energies has 3,300 gas stations nationwide in France, which corresponds to 30 percent of the total.
If they hadn’t capped prices, they would be a fifth higher today, according to industry estimates. This isn’t nothing. How long the low price operation will last remains to be seen. Pouyanné wants to maintain it at least until the end of the month.