Elise Denjean, edited by Gauthier Delomez 11:21 a.m., March 31, 2022
France applies from this Friday a discount of 18 cents at the pump for all fuels.
Although this aid is less than that of our European neighbours, France is nevertheless doing well in the energy sector by capping the prices of electricity and gas.
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An energy boost that is the envy of Europe.
From Friday, France is implementing its discount of 18 cents per liter at the pump for a period of four months.
While almost all European countries are also adopting a reduction in fuel prices (- 20 cents in Spain, - 25 in Italy, - 30 on petrol and - 14 on diesel in Germany, etc.), France stands out by freezing regulated gas prices and capping the increase in regulated electricity costs by 4%.
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EDF must sell cheap energy to its rivals
The capping of this price is made possible thanks to EDF, which the state owns 80%, and which it has ordered to sell more cheap nuclear energy to its rivals.
In Europe, only Bulgaria has been able to do the same.
Other countries, like Spain, have overly liberalized energy markets, and they lack a big public player to counterbalance.
This is one of the explanations for Spanish inflation which is now close to 10%, a record since 1985.
For the rest, our European neighbors are setting up compensation, aid and even loan systems.
These are downstream aids, but the result gives a bill that remains as high as ever.