A gesture yes, but not at any cost. Here is in essence the speech given by Antoine Armand on the subject of the price of electricity this Thursday morning. The Minister of Economy and Finance was invited to the BFMTV morning show to discuss the 2025 budget and the austerity policy launched to straighten out the public accounts.
In its 2025 finance bill, the government plans to considerably increase the domestic tax on final electricity consumption (TICFE). An amount of 36 euros per megawatt hour was mentioned, a level higher than that applied before the war in Ukraine (the TICFE then amounted to 32.44 euros per MWh). However, with the establishment of the energy shield, this tax fell to 0.5 euro/MWh in 2022 before being gradually increased. Today it reaches 22.5 euros/MWh. The increase would therefore be very significant even if electricity prices have tended to fall in recent months.
“The gesture on electricity, we are ready for it”
This measure caused an outcry within the opposition. This week, deputies and senators also voted against this increase in the TICFE to a level above 32 euros per MWh. Antoine Armand, interviewed by Apolline de Malherbe, indicated that negotiations were therefore underway on this subject. “We are ready for the action on electricity. It must not be done at any price, it must be done in line with the budget that we carry, insisted the minister. Because if we exceed all the budgetary targets, there is no longer any point in saying that we are adjusting the accounts.”
“It is this gesture that we must look at very seriously, that we must discuss and on which a proposal must be made, as the Prime Minister said,” he added. The issue is crucial for the government, threatened with censorship.
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