Some autonomy for companies to adapt to energy sobriety. this french government will give a month margin for special groups to receive own precautions energy-saving. It was announced this Monday afternoon by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in the keynote address of the MEDEF (employer) summer university. The chief executive asked companies to make a presentation. energy sober plan during the month of September. Purpose: reduce consumption by 10% electric within the next two years.
“Everyone should cooperate in their own way. We are entering an era of collective responsibility. (…) Our first urgency avoid any unnecessary consumption”, Borne assured, on the Longchamp racecourse in the bois de Boulogne (west of Paris), in one of the capital’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Despite President Emmanuel Macron’s predictions of “blood, sweat, and tears” in recent weeks, the truth is that France has a few socks sober. In public buildings, air conditioning is limited to 26ºC and heating to 19ºC. However, these restrictions do not apply in stores, company offices or on public transport.
Wide arm to companies
For now, centrist Execution broad arm of companies For them to adapt to the new situation caused by the energy crisis and war in Ukraine. It’s a bet similar to the one during the covid-19 pandemic, when France didn’t take national measures on teleworking and left each company to run its own way.
However, Borne deadline early october examine private sector sobriety plans. Threatened with more coercive demands if they were unsatisfactory. “If everyone does not take their responsibility, in the near future, gas cuts with serious economic and social consequences” he warned. It also announced a government information campaign about the individual steps each citizen can take to reduce their consumption. Because France is less dependent on Russian gas, it faces the current crisis in a less urgent position than some of its neighbors, such as Germany or Italy.
However, as Borne recalls, it is “not out of the woods.” half of the nuclear reactors are currently not working and said last week that the price of electricity in France exceeded its annual record of 1,000 euros per megawatt. The French government disagrees with its neighbors – Germany in particular, but also Spain and Italy – on its energy strategy, both favoring nuclear power and opposing the MidCat gas pipeline. It is an infrastructure that he opposes due to its economic cost, environmental impact and also cost. bet on gas terminals“We’ve increased storage capacity in recent months,” Borne said.
ecological planning
In addition to the claim of energy sobriety, the Prime Minister announced that they will start preparations from the autumn. “ecological planning” measures The French equivalent of the Green New Deal on forest, water and power generation that does not emit CO2 emissions. “The ecological transition should be a central criterion in any investment in the environment. private and public sector‘ he claimed.
“We must invent another model of production and consumption that allows us to meet our goals of reducing CO2 emissions,” said MEDEF president Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux a few minutes ago. Your government. Although the head of the employer acknowledged this “we have to change our mindsets happily accustomed to globalization”, he devoted a large part of his speech to justifying the classic neoliberal reforms that abounded at these MEDEF meetings – lowering corporate taxes, deregulation of the labor market…. Some, such as a law, are part of the government agenda for rentrée. compensation for the unemployed.
Besides Borne, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Tunisian Prime Minister Najla Bouden also attended the opening of the MEDEF summer university. A speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also published. Generalitat’s president, Pere Aragonès, will attend a colloquium on independence movements in Catalonia and Corsica on Tuesday, as part of the same summer meeting of employers.