France denies plans to cut power to Italy

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PARIS, Sept 17 (Reuters) – France on Saturday denied press reports that EDF could cut off its electricity exports to Italy and reaffirmed its commitment to “solidarity” with its neighbors in the face of Europe’s energy crisis.

The newspaper La Repubblica and the Bloomberg agency had previously reported a message from EDF to the Italian government referring to a potential interruption of electricity supplies provided by the group for a period of up to two years.

“The French authorities firmly deny this information and reaffirm their commitment to reciprocal electricity and gas solidarity with all of our European neighbours”, indicated the Minister for Energy Transition in a written statement.

“The full operation of electrical interconnections is a priority for the security of collective supply and France will fully respect its commitment to support its European partners”, added the minister headed by Agns Pannier-Runacher.

An EDF spokesman also denied that the group had warned Italy of a possible suspension of its electricity exports.

EDF, in the process of complete renationalisation, is faced with problems of availability of its power stations which have caused its nuclear production to fall to its lowest level for 30 years and have forced France to import electricity to meet its needs even before the winter period. (Report Benjamin Mallet; told by Elizabeth Pineau)

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