The National Rally is campaigning for a price cap, as Spain and Portugal did during the energy crisis.
In a campaign largely focused on the theme of purchasing power, this is a small phrase that has gone unnoticed by business leaders. Last Thursday, interviewed with representatives of the other main parties by Medef, CPME and U2P, the president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella confirmed that he was refusing to leave the European energy market.
In front of the business leaders gathered to hear him, Jordan Bardella reaffirmed that he was letting go of a measure that frightens all industrialists in the sector. If this position was already part of the National Rally’s program for the European elections, Jordan Bardella detailed the strategy he intends to pursue in Brussels.
“I will enter into negotiations with the European Commission on the basis of what had been done by Spain and Portugal to allow France to return to a French electricity price,” he declared.
Potential future Prime Minister in the event of victory of the National Rally on July 7, Jordan Bardella wishes to negotiate a French exception with Brussels, as these two countries did during the energy crisis. They had obtained a derogation from the European Commission to cap their electricity prices in the event of a surge in prices on European markets.
An option similar to a “Frexit”
This “Iberian exception” was authorized because the peninsula exchanges very little electricity with its only neighbor, France, and therefore has little influence on European prices. Spain and Portugal benefit from a form of energy self-sufficiency thanks to six LNG terminals which allow them to import liquefied natural gas for their consumption.
A very different scenario for France, which is the leading exporter of electricity in Europe. Since the beginning of May, it has exported around ten times more electricity than it imports from Spain.
“The RN is reviewing its position because it realizes that exiting the market is legally unfeasible and contrary to European treaties,” believes the director of a French energy company.
An argument taken up by Bruno Le Maire last Thursday, who compared this option of exiting the European electricity market to a “Frexit”. “If you leave the European electricity market, you leave Europe,” declared the Minister of the Economy.
Matthieu Pechberty Journalist BFM Business
