Emmanuel Macron’s main announcements
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As a winter without Russian gas looms, Emmanuel Macron urged citizens on Monday, September 5, to “to be at the rendezvous of sobriety” in order to avoid gas and electricity rationing in the coming months.
“We must not play on fear, we are not in this situation” rationing, he however reassured during a press conference devoted to the energy crisis following a videoconference interview with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“Everyone has a role to play” for energy sobriety
“Everyone has their role to play”said the president, calling for energy sobriety and believing that “the best energy [était] the one we don’t consume[ait] not “. According to him, “We have our destiny in hand because, since February, we have done a lot of things and because if we manage to be at the rendezvous of solidarity and sobriety”, “the solution is in our hands”he added.
“We all have to move! »he continued, calling for “change behavior” like that of “Turn the air conditioning on a little less when it’s hot” and this winter “the heating a little less strong than usual”evoking a temperature around 19°C in the rooms.
“If we collectively know how to behave more soberly and save energy everywhere, then there will be no rationing and there will be no cuts”insisted the Head of State, recalling the objective of achieving “10% energy saving”.
Towards “greater targeting of financial support” for households
To do this, Emmanuel Macron announced the holding of regular points. The follow-up already underway, in particular thanks to My Ecowatt, “already gives a lot of information” on the energy situation. ” We will try to improve all these instruments so that everyone can appropriate them at the individual level.said the Head of State.
Regarding financial aid to households, such as the tariff shield, Emmanuel Macron warned, without giving a timetable, that they could not be kept “for months and months”. The government is therefore moving towards a “greater targeting of support” for the “middle classes and the most modest families who could not resist a rise in prices”.
The Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, announced on Saturday that the government was going “maintain a shield system in 2023”. According to an INSEE study, these measures of “tariff shield” halved the effect of soaring energy prices on inflation.
Paris agrees to deliver gas to Germany
As the Russian energy giant Gazprom has just announced the extension of the total shutdown of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, between Russia and Germany, Berlin and Europe are preparing for a winter without Russian gas – Gazprom has already stopped its gas deliveries to the French operator Engie.
It was in the face of this threat that Emmanuel Macron spoke with the German Chancellor on Monday. During his press conference, the French head of state announced that Paris was committed to delivering more gas to Germany, which could in return supply him with electricity if the energy crisis required it this winter. .
At European level, Mr Macron also declared himself “supportive of common gas purchasing practices” to buy ” cheaper “as well as capping the price of Russian gas delivered by pipeline.
A “European contribution mechanism” rather than a national tax on superprofits
The French President also said he was in favor of the European Union (EU) imposing a contribution on energy operators who would make “undue profits” with soaring wholesale electricity prices on the continent, in unison with Germany. The European Commission, for its part, is preparing its own plan to contain the rise in electricity prices.
Rather than a national tax on superprofits, France therefore supports a non-fiscal and harmonized mechanism at European level, which would make it possible to recover part of the profits made by producers of renewable or nuclear electricity who today produce electricity at low cost but resold at record prices.
European electricity prices, regardless of their method of production, are in fact correlated to the price of gas, which has reached historic highs since the war in Ukraine. “This contribution could then be paid back to the States to finance their targeted national measures”in favor of households and businesses, of the tariff shield type, he explained.
“No evidence of need” for a third gas pipeline between France and Spain
Asked about the Midcat project, supported by Madrid and Berlin, for a new gas pipeline between France and Spain, the Head of State declared that he did not see “obviously” to ” need “ of this third device. In Europe, “we need more electrical interconnection” but “I am not convinced that we need more gas interconnection, the consequences of which, in particular on the environment, and in particular on the ecosystem, are greater”he explained in particular.
Mr Macron recalled that, during the stress period in February, the two existing gas pipelines between Spain and France are used at 53% of their capacity, with Paris exporting to Spain. in full “gas crisis, we are not saturating existing connections (…). I don’t understand the short-term problem we’re trying to solve.”he asserted.
According to him, “There is no evidence of need, there is no evidence today, no evidence tomorrow, there are real difficulties”. And to insist: “Does investing today to have a third gas pipeline between France and Spain answer our question? I do not believe. »
Critics of nuclear power “absolutely unacceptable[s] »
Finally, on the state of the French nuclear fleet, the French president strongly defended himself, judging “absolutely unacceptable that the people who had the responsibility for the maintenance work of the installed base can explain that we did not take our responsibilities”.
The Head of State was referring, without naming him, to the current CEO of EDF Jean-Bernard Lévy, who criticized at the end of August, a few weeks before leaving office, the lack of long-term strategic vision of the nuclear state. Emmanuel Macron recalled having postponed the deadline for a 50% reduction in nuclear power by ten years, claiming to have “restored visibility, restores[é] confidence in the sector [et] give back[é] objectives “.
About Fessenheim power station, ” if [les travaux de maintenance] had they just been done correctly on the rest of the park, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion today; this is not a subject, Fessenheim”swept Mr. Macron. “When I see the difficulties there are in keeping certain power stations open, even though they are much more recent, don’t come looking for me in Fessenheim. Fessenheim, in a way, the mass was said, the strategic decision had been taken five years before for the oldest power plant in the park. She was so consistent.he added.
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