Invited to the economic meetings in Aix-en-Provence, the Prime Minister also warned against the isolation caused by telework.
In the middle of the summer, in anticipation of a winter of all dangers, the government continues to work on energy issues, “more crucial than ever“. Invited to the Aix-en-Provence economic meetings, the Prime Minister considered that the hypothesis of a “shortage of deliveries [de gaz] of Russia for Europe is credible».
«We can certainly overcome a difficulty of this type, but this will require that everyone mobilizesadded Elisabeth Borne. In the medium term, the executive continues to focus on energy sobriety and the decarbonization of the economy, particularly in industry, in order to reduce France’s dependence on fossil fuels imported from Russia.
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Gradually moving away from oil and gas will also protect household wallets, argued the Prime Minister. “At some point, you have the purchasing power of millions of French people which is amputated because the barrel of oil is going up in flames: you have to get out of this vulnerability“, she pleaded on the scene of the event.
France, like many of its European neighbors, remains highly dependent on Russia for its supply of natural gas and oil. In 2020, France imported 17% of its gas and 13% of its oil and petroleum products from this country, according to the European Commission. A relatively small share compared to other Member States: Italy thus imported 43% of its natural gas from Russia in the same year, Germany 65% and Hungary 95%, by way of comparison.
In anticipation of winter, and faced with the growing threat of a cut in Russian supplies, France and its partners are preparing: in mid-May, the twenty-seven agreed on an obligation to fill the reserves from gas toat least 80%of their capacity, by November 1st. At the end of June, the bosses of the three energy giants TotalEnergies, Engie and EDF also called on consumers and businesses to reduce their consumption in anticipation of the months to come. All players are mobilized, including businesses and households.
During an exchange with journalists, after her speech, the Prime Minister also left the door open to targeted aid aimed at the most modest households, once the tariff shield governing the prices of gas and electricity will be lifted. “We must move from general mechanisms to more targeted mechanisms […]. Work is in progress“, she said, according to AFP.
Teleworking, a factorisolation»
During her speech in Aix-en-Provence, the majority leader also returned to teleworking. Former Minister of Labor, at the helm of the rue de Grenelle from July 2020 to the end of Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term, Élisabeth Borne saw this tool deploy quickly and massively during the health crisis. “I fully support teleworking, [mais] I am still quite worried when we think that some of our fellow citizenscan suffer from alack of social connection“, she nuanced.
Teleworking can aggravate this situation, already highlighted during the crisis of “yellow vests“, Estimated Élisabeth Borne, calling for “be aware that this should not be an opportunity to spend even less time with other human beings, and to spend even more time in front of screens“. A particularly important observation, while teleworking remains used by a large number of structures: in March, according to Dares, one in five employees worked at least one day remotely.
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