Four days after the first Russian bombardments on Kiev, the executive seemed to harden its tone on Saturday February 26 and Sunday February 27 regarding the repercussions of the war in Ukraine for the tricolor economy and households. While the watchword of the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, was essentially centered on the “protection of the French” Faced with the rise in prices caused by the conflict since the Russian offensive on Thursday, the government’s discourse has sought to be more direct.
“There will obviously be an economic impact for Europe and for France, you must not hide behind your little finger and sell illusions”, asserted the government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, guest of the program “Political Questions”Sunday February 27 on France Inter. “We cannot have a war at the gates of Europe without consequences for the economy in general. The role of the state, in times of crisis, is to protect the weakest,” we say to Bercy. “But we will not be able to protect 100% of the French”, we explain, recalling that the government has already devoted more than 15 billion euros since the fall to support the purchasing power of the French (energy check, tariff shield on gas and electricity, inflation compensation) .
While the Russian invasion is causing a new bout of fever on the prices of oil, gas and wheat, the government is facing yet another headache, six weeks before the first round of the presidential election. How to respond to the concerns of the French about their purchasing power and not to break the recovery from which companies benefit?
“The main risk is that of [coût du] gas, said Mr. Attal again on Sunday. There is also a topic on agriculture (…). We are preparing a resilience plan and measures to mitigate this impact,” he recalled. On Saturday, visiting the Agricultural Show, Emmanuel Macron had warned that the conflict “will last” and that’“we have to prepare for it”and mentioned this “resilience plan” for ” to secure ” the sectors and “build shields in terms of costs (…), in the time “.
Gas price freeze
In the aftermath, several candidates for the election took advantage of their visit to the Porte de Versailles fair to put the subject of purchasing power back at the heart of the campaign. On Monday, the candidate of the Les Républicains party, Valérie Pécresse, in turn proposed a “shield” within the European Union for ” protect “ Farmers. Anne Hidalgo (Socialist Party) called for the blocking of energy prices for individuals and farmers, recalling having asked for a long time, well before the Ukrainian crisis, to “playing on VAT to contain the prices of gasoline, energy and electricity”.
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