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The Prime Minister considers that the hypothesis of a “rupture” of gas supplies by Russia is “credible”.
The Aix-en-Provence sun didn’t stop Elisabeth Borne from thinking about winter. Invited to the Economic Meetings last weekend, she took the opportunity to sound the alarm. “We are not sure that everything will go well if the Russians turn off the tap,” she said. We can have tensions on the gas this winter. On electricity, the situation is not extremely comfortable. The head of government was questioned about the risk of a break in gas deliveries by Putin. “We can certainly overcome a difficulty of this type, but that will require everyone to mobilize,” added Elisabeth Borne.
In the medium term, the executive continues to focus on energy sobriety and the decarbonization of the economy, particularly in industry, in order to reduce France’s dependence on fossil fuels imported from Russia. Also present in Aix, Bruno Le Maire expressed his concern. The Minister of the Economy indicated that France was going to “diversify” its supplies and rely more on liquefied natural gas (LNG). France will favor, he said, “load shedding scenarios” in order to find a balance between demand from businesses and that from households. But the boss of Bercy says it quite clearly in private: “Do we continue to heat the swimming pools? Should collective apartments be heated to 19 degrees rather than 21? »
According to the Minister, France is in a complicated situation because of the closure for maintenance of eight nuclear reactors. The concern is growing all the more as Russia has cut gas supplies until July 21 for maintenance. And that all Europeans wonder if Putin will reopen the floodgates. At the end of June, the bosses of the three energy giants TotalEnergies, Engie and EDF called on consumers and businesses to reduce their consumption in anticipation of the months to come.