War in Ukraine: on franceinfo, Yannick Jadot “persists” and “accuses TotalEnergies of being an accomplice in war crimes” – franceinfo

The standoff continues. Guest of 8:30 a.m. franceinfo, Thursday March 24, 2022, Yannick Jadot was clear: “I confirm, I persist, I accuse TotalEnergies of being an accomplice in war crimes in Ukraine”, assured the environmental candidate for the presidential election, while the group announced that it had initiated “defamation action” against him. “The Total group works with Russian partners who are closely linked to the highest summit of the Putin state, Total knows perfectly well the war crimes that are being perpetrated in Ukraine, Total knows perfectly well that, through its activities, it contributes to financing groups very linked to this war and therefore it is called complicity in a war crime.” War in Ukraine: Yannick Jadot “persists”, despite the defamation lawsuits. For the environmental candidate in the presidential election, TotalEnergies is “accomplice in a war crime”. He accuses his CEO of “cynicism”. “Mr. Pouyanné is angry on behalf of his shareholders”. pic.twitter.com/ufBgD20E65 — franceinfo (@franceinfo) March 24, 2022 Yannick Jadot also denounced “the cynicism” of Patrick Pouyanné, the group’s CEO “who, with tears in his voice, talks to us about his employees but is in anger over this war on behalf of its shareholders”. “I am angry on behalf of Ukrainian men and women who are victims of war atrocities,” continued the environmentalist presidential candidate. According to him, “the only way to help these Ukrainian fighters” and “to show solidarity” is to “enforce the embargo on Russian gas and oil” which he considers to be “at the heart of the corrupt oligarchy”. During a press conference on Wednesday March 23, the environmentalist presidential candidate had already denounced the oil group “for being an accomplice in the war in Ukraine, by working with companies close to Putin and Russian oligarchs”. While the Total group announced on Tuesday that it was going to end its oil activities in Russia at the latest by the end of 2022, without however leaving the country and ending its gas activities, Yannick Jadot condemned the fact that Total is “the only group left”, where BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil “have left Russia”. “It is now that Total must leave Russia as the other oil multinationals have done,” insisted Yannick Jadot, while demanding that Emmanuel Macron “impose” this withdrawal. “I accuse President Macron of complacency and cynicism in this regard. It has been years since President Macron, already as a minister, has supported the installation and contracts of Total in Russia”, launched the candidate. “These lobbies that run the country, that’s enough!”, Launched Yannick Jadot, while pointing the finger at Patrick Pouyanné “who intends to dictate energy policy to France and who comments on the presidential campaign”. On Wednesday morning, the CEO of the French group, Patrick Pouyanné, had indicated on RTL that “When Mr. Jadot accuses the 100,000 employees of Total [de crimes de guerre], it’s extremely serious, it’s an insult, (…) it’s not acceptable”. He also stressed that the more Yannick Jadot “says bad things” about his company, the more “it lowers him in the polls”, inviting him to “take care of his campaign and stop insulting” Total. “Total wants to silence me? Total wants to silence me in the middle of the presidential election campaign?”, wondered vehemently the candidate of the Greens, denouncing the “threats from lobbies”. “I have been doing ecology for 30 years. 30 years that I lead these fights. We have always had threats from lobbies,” he lamented. “I was spied on by EDF and now I have a legal attack from Total. Ecologists will not back down”, he warned. Yannick Jadot thus promised, if he is elected president, to “clean up the conflicts of interest between the private sector and the general interest” by passing a law to regulate lobbies.