French bosses ready to curb energy consumption to avoid rationing
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PARIS (Reuters) – French bosses are prepared to make efforts to meet a government demand to cut energy consumption by around 10% to avoid rationing amid soaring prices and fears of power shortages as the war in Ukraine grinds on, their chief said on Monday.
“We are looking at it, it is not impossible. It is a significant effort but absolutely necessary because we want to avoid rationing that stops production,” Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux told France Inter radio.
French Employers association (Medef) President Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux arrives at the Elysee Palace to attend a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and other French Unions in Paris, France, 06 July 2021. EPA-EFE/YOAN VALAT
The Medef, France’s main employer association, holds its annual post summer conference on Monday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivering the opening address.
He will be followed by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who is expected to urge businesses to step up their efforts to save energy as power prices which, shaken by the war abroad and nuclear production problems at home, reached new record highs at over ten times their pre-crisis level.
France is less reliant than some neighbours on gas imports from Russia, which account for about 17% of its gas consumption. But concerns about supply from Russia nevertheless remain.
Reporting by Dominique Vidalon , editing by Tassilo Hummel
