DIRECT. Inflation, energy crisis… Olivier Véran, government spokesperson, answers your questions

Find here all of our live #INFLATION

10:11 a.m. : Hello Mr. Minister, medium-sized towns and large cities are hit hard both by inflation and by exorbitant and unjustified increases in energy costs. For the latter, the increases sometimes reach more than 500%! Municipal budgets, although well managed until then, are not able to absorb these increases. As a reminder, a municipality cannot have its budget in deficit unlike the State. What concrete measures do you intend to take to help communities before they can no longer pay. THE ease of recourse to the increase in local taxes is not a solution either, since citizens are already experiencing increases from all sides! Thank you.

10:11 a.m. : “A university has autonomy, it is not a state decision. We have intervened for students by freezing university registration fees, we are increasing student grants by 4%, more than half have received exceptional back-to-school assistance, there are also Crous meals at one euro, we have extended the sports pass to scholarship students., we have increased the APL by 3.5%, students benefit from the tariff shield, we have frozen rents in Crous student accommodation. We did everything we could.”

10:10 a.m. : Hello, I have a question for Mr. Olivier Véran. The Faculty of Strasbourg plans to close its doors for two weeks in winter to save energy. Classes will therefore be by videoconference. This means for students and teachers a significant increase in energy consumption (computers connected all day to be able to follow lessons, lights on early because it gets dark early…). The energy savings achieved by the university will therefore be canceled out by the increase in the energy needs of students and professors to ensure the follow-up of lessons. In the end, they are the ones who will see their bill increase and who will therefore have to pay the price of this crisis. As we know, students are precarious, even more so since the Covid crisis. Couldn’t the state do something to avoid this situation? It doesn’t look like schools/colleges/high schools are going to close this winter, why should universities?

10:09 : “If we had chosen to lower the VAT on electricity, as on gas, the price of the product would have increased more sharply. We are more effective by blocking, with a tariff shield, than by lowering the VAT. Rather than preventing the rise of certain products, we compensate for it by increasing the incomes of French people in difficulty.

10:07 : Question for Mr Véran: I am, like all French people, confronted with an increasing rise in prices and I do not understand why a reduction in VAT is not applied. Is it possible ?

10:07 : Companies are strongly encouraged to act within the period. There are mechanisms that exist, such as the Macron bonus, to encourage companies to distribute profits. We have also made a commitment, for companies that pay dividends, to oblige them to also redistribute to employees.

10:07 : Hello M.Véran, regarding purchasing power, we cannot expect the State to replace businesses. The problem comes from the distribution of wealth, especially in large companies. I work in an insurance group that made 1 billion profits in 2021, we haven’t had a Macron bonus for 2 years, 0.9% increase… What is the state waiting for to intervene and oblige companies? to take their responsibilities in terms of purchasing power??? In advance, thank you for your answer

10:05 a.m. : “I understand that it is difficult to live with three people on 1,200 euros. There are measures for people who work with low wages, such as the activity bonus. We increase all the social minima, such as the index point for civil servants, all employees are associated with the profits of a company. Raising wages would amount to generating inflation. This gentleman, in addition to the tariff shield, will receive an energy check which can go up to 200 euros. He also received the exceptional back-to-school allowance.”

10:08 : Hello Mr. Minister. My question is simple: Everything is going up, except wages. As a wise and particularly competent Minister, can you give me a clue: How to live at 3 with 1200 € per month? a solution would be welcome.

10:04 am : We are now installed in the office of government spokesman Olivier Véran with my colleague Thibaud Le Meneec. The chat with the minister on inflation and the energy crisis can begin!

(FRANCEINFO / THIBAUD LE MENEEC)

09:07 : It’s 9 a.m., time to make a new update on the news:

Emmanuel Macron inaugurates today off Saint-Nazaire the very first of a series of offshore wind farms, whose deployment he intends to accelerate in the face of the energy crisis. The president is due to speak at 1 p.m.

From 10 a.m., the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, will be chatting here on the theme of inflation (energy and food crisis). We are waiting for your questions in our live.

• The EU’s high representative for foreign policy said last night that the 27 were considering new sanctions against Russia. Josep Borrell made this statement at the end of an informal extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Follow our live.

• More than 1,300 people were arrested in Russia yesterday during spontaneous demonstrations against the partial mobilization for the offensive in Ukraine, announced in the morning by President Vladimir Putin, according to the NGO OVD-Info.

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