"We don't produce gas, so the only thing we could consider, which we have proposed and which I have defended with my European counterparts, is the idea of having a cap at 27 on gas prices “, he declared during a hearing before the Finance and Economic Affairs Committees of the National Assembly.
"Which means that we could negotiate with our three main suppliers - Russia, Norway and Algeria - a price of 27, which is a capped price", he estimated, adding that "we would impose a maximum price for companies that are producing companies", citing in particular the Russian Gazprom and the Algerian Sonatrach.
However, he admitted that at this stage this proposal had not received a unanimous positive reception from the other EU member states.
The gas pipeline network in Europe Patricio ARANA AFP
“It would be a market intervention that hurts some of our European partners,” he explained.
At the beginning of March, the minister had already pleaded for a "collective European solution", evoking "group purchases, in common to unite and obtain lower prices".
The discussions must continue with the next European summit on March 24 and 25 in sight.
Since the fall of 2021, France has frozen the price of gas sold to French households by compensating for this freeze to suppliers who continue to supply themselves on markets where gas prices have soared for several months.
This measure was initially to cost 1.2 billion euros to the State, but now, Bruno Le Maire estimates its cost at 6.4 billion euros.
Elsewhere in Europe, Belgium and the Netherlands have decided to lower their VAT on energy, while Poland has purely and simply abolished it for gas.
Germany has notably chosen to deploy public aid for heating.
© 2022 AFP