Environmental activist Greta Thunberg marched in southwest France on Sunday among thousands of demonstrators demanding the end of a project of eight oil drilling operations, while hydrocarbon exploitation must stop in the country. by 2040.
“Fed up with oil” or “And what else?” », We could read on the signs of activists gathered at the call of the Stop Pétrole Bassin d’Arcachon collective, which claimed 3000 demonstrators – 1200 according to the authorities.
“The exit from fossil fuels must begin now by refusing this project,” demanded Natalie Hervé, spokesperson for the collective, describing these drillings as a “bad signal” for France’s environmental ambitions.
Greta Thunberg, activist in the fight against global warming, stopped off in Bordeaux the day after a trip to the south of France to support opponents of a motorway project.
The young Swedish woman, Palestinian keffiyeh and pink raincoat, did not speak, but danced and chanted slogans in French and English against the oil industry.
These new drillings near Arcachon are desired by the Canadian group Vermilion Energy, holder until January 1, 2035 of a concession operated since the 1960s in the town of Teste-de-Buch. Around fifty wells currently produce around 1,500 barrels/day.
A long authorization procedure for the project is underway, and its opponents retain the possibility of opposing it in court.
In 2017, the French government voted to gradually stop the exploitation of hydrocarbons by 2040.
At the beginning of December, the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu judged that, as long as France needed oil, it was “no worse that it came from here rather than […] from the back of the World “.