The planned increase from 84% to 100% in the capital of the electrician "changes a lot of things because there are many projects which can sometimes take a few weeks or a few months longer, because there are debates which are legitimate from the moment there is a share of shareholders who are not state shareholders", explained the minister to journalists within the framework of the Economic Meetings of Aix-en-Provence.
"There you will have total unity of command," he added.
According to Bruno Le Maire, "it allows us to make faster decisions on the strategic subject of carbon-free electricity production in France".
The energy crisis is for the Minister "the most important subject of the coming months", and we must prepare for a total cut in the gas supply.
The Russian president said Thursday that Russia had "not yet started serious things in Ukraine", after four and a half months of war.
"We are facing an energy crisis which can have an absolutely major impact on our daily lives, on employment, on the functioning of our companies, on the French industrial tool", underlined Bruno Le Maire.
The Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire at the Elysee Palace, July 4, 2022 Ludovic MARIN AFP / Archives
The government is preparing a series of measures for next winter to prioritize households and certain industries in the event of insufficient electricity production.
"We must now put ourselves in battle order on the organization, load shedding, sobriety, reduction of consumption ... it is now that we must make the decisions", detailed the Minister of the Economy, not without adding that the subject fell to the Minister of Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
This year, EDF was forced to unexpectedly shut down 12 reactors, out of the 56 in the French fleet, for corrosion problems.
Bruno Le Maire finally clarified that he had not yet obtained the approval of the European Commission for the nationalization of EDF.
“I had long discussions with (Competition Commissioner) Margrethe Vestager on this subject, so we will resume our very long discussions,” the minister reported.
© 2022 AFP