Emmanuel Macron says he wants a 10% reduction in France’s energy use in the coming weeks and months, as he called on homes and businesses to cut back.
The French president warned that energy rationing plans were being prepared for this winter “in case” voluntary efforts were not enough.
Mr Macron urged people to turn down heating and air conditioning as the “best energy is that which we don’t consume”, adding that forced cuts “will happen as a last resort”.
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Speaking after a virtual meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Mr Macron unveiled a plan to increase gas supplies from France to Germany to make up for a drop in Russian gas supplies.
Germany is more reliant than most EU states on Russian gas.
Mr Macron said Germany will, in return, continue supplying electricity to France to make up for shortages caused by maintenance being carried out on French nuclear reactors.
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The leaders spoke before an emergency EU energy ministers meeting on Friday about how the bloc can coordinate to keep warm this winter if Russia cuts off gas supplies.
Mr Macron said France and Germany support requiring energy companies to make a “contribution” to public coffers off the back of big profits from gas and oil price spikes, and a price cap on Russian gas.
He also said France was in favour of buying gas at a European rather than a national level, and called for EU measures to control energy prices.
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Wholesale gas prices surged on Monday after Russia last week halted gas flows via a major pipeline, Nord Stream 1, which runs under the Baltic Sea to Germany.
Europe has accused Moscow of weaponising energy supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.
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Russia blames those sanctions for causing gas supply problems, which were down to a pipeline fault.
Nord Stream 1 traditionally supplied about a third of the gas Russia exported to Europe, although it was already running at only 20% of capacity before last week’s maintenance outage.
