The “contribution” of the energy companies that Paris and Berlin ask for will be lasting

By: News Team

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The European mechanism proposed by France and Germany to create a “contribution” to be paid by energy companies that are making exceptional profits from price escalation would be long-lasting and not just temporary for this crisis.

The French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, explained this Tuesday in an interview on the BFMTV channel that this device would tax “all companies that, without investing, do nothing more than benefit from the increase in energy prices.”

Specifically, the energy companies that have been guaranteed a price for renewables with the aim of investing in the sector, when market prices are higher, they would have to return the difference.

Le Maire pointed out that it would not be a question of creating an exceptional tax, but “a sustainable and “fair” market mechanism that guarantees the profitability of investments in renewables, but that requires the return of any extraordinary income.

In his opinion, it is “an excellent solution”, presented on Monday by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and which must now be discussed with the European Commission and with the rest of the countries of the European Union (EU).

Macron, who indicated that the money obtained would be distributed among the States, pointed out that if it does not go ahead in the EU, the debate will move to a national scale.

On the other hand, Le Maire anticipated that when the so-called “rate shield” ends in January, which has led to the freezing of electricity and gas prices for private consumers in France, there will be increases but “contained”.

This limited increase will be for all private consumers and, in parallel, the most modest families will receive the so-called “energy check”, which now covers some 6 million people, and which could be extended even further.

The minister noted that if this containment device were not applied in 2023 and market prices were applied, the electricity bill in France for an average family would increase by 120 euros per month, and that of gas by 180 euros per month.

Le Maire stressed that the “priority” of the new CEO of state power company EDF (EPA: EDF ), whose name will be known “in the coming days,” will be “to start up all the nuclear reactors that are stopped.”

France currently has 32 of the 56 atomic reactors in its park stopped, which usually produce 70% of the country’s electricity, forcing it to import power from neighboring countries, particularly Germany, but also from Spain.

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