FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- European motorists
desperate for relief at the pump are disrupting
traffic, blockading refineries and threatening
strikes as gas prices soar on the backs of a
tumbling currency and high fuel taxes.

Europeans have long been accustomed to paying
as much as four times what Americans shell out
for a tank of gas, due to fuel taxes that can
add a staggering 80 percent to the retail gas
price in the region.

. . .

Long lines formed at gas stations in Italy,
Spain, Switzerland and Germany near the French
border, where angry French motorists flocked
after their own pumps ran dry.

Northern Light

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), September 09, 2000