In recent years the French have taken over form the British as the striking bad boys of Europe.  Parisians have always fled to the country in summer, but the current tradition seems hell-bent on causing disruption to mass-migration of any kind.  In the British media this annual event merits coverage only so far as it affects our holidaymakers or lorry drivers.

The latest disruption is caused by French anger over the rising cost of fuel, and as the price of diesel and petrol in France is substantially below the price in the United Kingdom that doesn't gain much sympathy in the British tabloids. The pump price of unleaded petrol is 80.3p in the UK, 68.9p in France and only 51.1p in Spain.  As usual, however, there is a tendency to ignore the real issues.

The price of oil ('Brent Crude') has risen dramatically from $10 a barrel in mid 1998 to over $30 a barrel. Those with long memories will not be surprised; several times in the last thirty years the oil producers have flexed their muscles and the industrialised world has bullied and cajoled and paid the price before a compromise is reached.  Of course, governments could provide some stability by reducing tax levies as oil prices rise, but that would present a new set of problems. 

However, it is not a case of déjas vu, for the situation at the beginning of the third millennium is quite different: we now have an alternative.  A certain amount of affluence induces an equivalent amount of apathy, and Europe has been content to whinge and pay higher prices (whilst benefiting to some extent from the oil deposits in the North Sea).  But some countries with lower GDP's have been forced to look at different ways of solving the problem.  Brazil, for example, reduced her dependency on gasoline by the introduction of ethanol distilled from crushed sugar cane, and Sweden now produces RME (Raps Methyl Ester) from rapeseed oil.  The small Baltic island of Gotland has an ambitious programme of total energy self-sufficiency by the year 2025, and is already using RME in conventional diesel engines.

Since the industrial revolution Europe has struggled to evolve from an agricultural economy.  We have mis-managed this transition so comprehensively that after two centuries the system is based on subsidy, stock-piling and set-aside.  We should allow the French to build their barricades on the past.  It is time Europe made use of its farming hectares with a concerted effort towards self-sufficiency in non-polluting transport fuel.  Taking an example from the commitment shown by Gotland we could remove fossil fuels from the roads of Europe within a decade.