France, April 2 -- Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Wednesday instructed the government to look into using "surplus" tax revenues generated by rising fuel prices to fund measures to reduce the country's dependence on imported oil and gas, his office told news agency AFP.

With consumer feeling the pinch, the notion of a tax windfall is a sensitive subject. Ministers have previously insisted that higher oil prices would negatively impact public finances by reducing consumption and slowing growth. 

The contradiction was seized upon by the opposition, with the leader of the far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen, calling for any surplus to be used to cut VAT and fuel taxes.

In an interview on French public radio on ...