The French President, Emmanuel Macronwarned this Thursday that we must prepare for the war in Ukraine to last since Russia completely close the gas taps, which requires taking all measures such as energy saving, but also reforming the European mechanism on the price of electricity.

In a televised interview on the occasion of the French National Holiday, Macron said that Moscow it is giving “a signal” with the closure of the flow through the Nord Stream I gas pipeline that feeds Western Europe, in the sense that it will “use gas as a weapon of war”, as it also does with food.

In fact, he considered it “likely” that Vladimir Putin completely close the gas tap to Europe, and that means that we Europeans “have to prepare for a scenario in which we have to completely dispense with Russian gas”.

After pointing out that France is, compared to other countries in central and eastern Europe, not very dependent on imports of Russiasince before this crisis he bought 20% of the gas he consumed, he explained that an alternative supply is already being sought with producing countries such as Norway, Qatar, Algeria or the United States.

The objective is to have reconstituted 100% of the gas reserves by the autumn, because other countries that are mainly supplied with Russian gas will also have to be helped.

But above all, Macron He insisted that energy “sobriety” will have to be applied and for that he will ask the administrations and large companies to establish plans with ciphered objectives to consume less energy, so that during the next winter the economy does not have to stop due to lack of energy. of supply.

He also announced that he intends to “negotiate a change” in Europe’s electricity pricing mechanism, which depends on the marginal cost of the last plant to be commissioned to meet demand, which currently means that essentially It depends on the price of gas.

In his opinion, this system “is crazy” because the price of a kilowatt “is too dependent on the gas that we import” and alternatives must be found to lower it.

In the field of internal energy policy, he confirmed that the “rate shields” for gas and electricity in France will be extended until the end of the year, which means that prices are frozen.

As of the beginning of 2023, he did not give many details, beyond the fact that “selective mechanisms for the people who need it most” will be launched, which implies that aid with public money will no longer be indiscriminate.

The French president took it for granted that the war in Ukraine is going to last, that “the summer and autumn will be very hard” considering the intensity of the fighting in Donbas, after having reaffirmed its support for kyiv, but without getting directly involved in the conflict.

In that context, France will increase its defense program with a new military programming law for the 2030 horizon that will be based on an assessment of threats and needs. For Macron this “is also a European issue”.

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