Purchasing power. Less than a week before the second round of early legislative elections, the news broke on July 1: Gas prices will increase again by nearly 12% (11.7%). This increase had been announced since last March. The average annual gas bill for a French household will therefore increase by 124 euros, going from an average of 1,060 euros in June to 1,184 euros on July 1.
Very bad news for the purchasing power of French women and men, already extremely degraded by previous increases in energy prices, and especially by inflation on foodstuffs. A few days before the second round of elections, only the New Popular Front is concerned with this problem by proposing a freeze on energy prices, unlike the National Rally. Our brief
Why this increase?
Why this increase? It comes from a four-year revaluation of gas transport costs. This type of toll, charged to suppliers, accounts for a third of the bill and must be increased in the face of the increase in maintenance and modernization costs for gas infrastructure.
Once again, it is the poorest who will be penalized by this increase in prices. According to INSEE, more than one in five modest households say they suffer from the cold in their homes. Let us recall that the presidential camp and the RN group systematically voted hand in hand against the proposals to freeze prices and tax superprofits tabled by La France Insoumise in the National Assembly, even though they would have protected the working classes from this increase in prices.
The RN’s scam on purchasing power
Faced with rising gas and electricity prices, the National Rally had been selling its supposed miracle solution on all the TV sets for months: a reduction in VAT from 20% to 5.5% on basic necessities, particularly energy.
Two scams behind this false solution: First, from the first days after the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron, Jordan Bardella has made a series of about-faces. In particular, he went back on his promise to repeal the pension reform, to leave the European electricity market, and to eliminate VAT on 100 basic necessities. He thus reveals his true face: that of a convinced neoliberal. How can we believe him when he announces that he wants to lower VAT on energy?
For further : Legislative: RN admits to having lied about the electricity market
Furthermore, this proposal is a scam in itself. Without a price freeze, lowering VAT does absolutely nothing to improve purchasing power. There is nothing to prevent energy companies from offsetting the VAT reduction by increasing their margins. VAT revenue is also used to fund certain public services. Proposing to lower VAT therefore amounts to taking money from the common fund. This is hardly surprising from a party that voted against the super-profit tax in the National Assembly.
For further : Bardella at Matignon? Journey to the end of hell
The proposal of the New Popular Front
As soon as its program was presented, the New Popular Front announced that it would make lowering energy prices one of its priorities. The left-wing parties have in fact agreed on a proposal for a major purchasing power law, which would involve in particular the abolition of the “Macron’s 10% tax on energy bills “, and the cancellation of ” the planned increase in the price of gas on July 1 “In addition, the NFP proposes to “freeze the prices of basic necessities in food, energy and fuel by decree.”
This last measure is infinitely more effective than that advocated by the RN, since it allows purchasing power to be truly preserved, by preventing energy companies from increasing their margins.
For further : New Popular Front – The comparator of the collective “Our Public Services” gives its largely winning program
