This is not a new “whatever the cost”, had warned the government. Prime Minister Jean Castex presented, on Wednesday March 16, the “resilience plan”, promised by Emmanuel Macron in order to counter the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine. These announcements come as the blocking of oil depots, which began Tuesday in Brest and Lorient, continues to protest against the rise in diesel and gasoline prices.
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Franceinfo summarizes what should be remembered from the measures intended to protect “our savings”. This plan is “scalable”, warned Jean Castex, since he has to adapt to the Ukrainian situation.
The State will bear part of the additional costs of certain companies
The State will help energy-intensive companies to offset the additional costs caused by the surge in prices since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Prime Minister first announced. This aid concerns companies whose gas and electricity expenditure represents “at least 3% of turnover, and which could make losses in 2022”. She must allow “covering half of the surplus of their energy expenditure”detailed the head of government.
Energy expenditure represents significant costs, in particular for steel and chemical companies and even certain agricultural activities, which have demanded aid in the face of soaring oil, gas and electricity prices.
The aid of 15 centimes for fuel is extended to vehicle natural gas and LPG
The discount at the pump of 15 centimes per liter of fuel, granted by the government from April for four months, will also be extended to natural gas vehicles (NGV) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The fuel discount “will concern all French people, on the metropolitan territory and in the overseas territories, individuals as well as all professionals”said Jean Castex. “In particular, truckers, taxis and medical transporters, farmers, public works actors and fishermen, but also all professions who use their vehicles a lot, such as home helpers, will be able to benefit from the measure”continued the Prime Minister.
The latter, who had called the “tankers” to do “a complementary gesture”also reported that the TotalEnergies group had “already given its agreement in principle to go beyond the effort of the State”.
Fishermen and farmers will be helped by the State
Jean Castex makes “maintenance of fishing activities”, “an absolute priority”. The fishermen will thus receive a “exceptional financial assistance” to enable them to withstand the soaring energy prices “equivalent to 35 cents per liter of fishing diesel” until the end of July, announced the Prime Minister. The goal ? “Let the boats go back to sea as soon as possible”. This measure completes the exceptional device of six million euros intended for fishermen, announced Wednesday by the fishing industry.
The State is also going to set aside a budget of 400 million euros to finance aid to breeders who are faced with the soaring cost of animal feed. French producers are indeed afraid of running out of fertilizer and feed for livestock, Russia and Ukraine being major suppliers. The losses of breeders will be compensated for four months, said Jean Castex. “A deposit of 25% of the reimbursement of the TICPE on non-road diesel” will also be paid to them “in the next weeks”.
Energy independence, renewable energies… Longer-term measures
The Prime Minister ended his speech by emphasizing the longer-term measures that will have to be taken in order to “accelerate the exit from fossil fuels and strengthen industrial and food sovereignty” from France. The government has thus “the goal of and Russian oil by 2027”. Capacities for importing liquefied natural gas will need to be strengthened, as well as capacities for renewable energy and biogas, he says. The head of government promised “reinforcement of aid to decarbonize heating networks”. The Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, specified that the government would subsidize companies to reduce their dependence on Russian raw materials.
Public services asked to turn down the heating
John Castex “will sign a circular in the coming days calling on all public services to reduce the heating temperature by one degree in order to save energy and reduce the bill”said the Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili.