France will not give up competitive advantages linked to its nuclear park as part of an ongoing reform of the European electricity market that it wants to see completed by the end of the year, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday. according to the Reuters press agency.
The tensions between France, Spain and Germany over nuclear energy have complicated the reform project of recent months, initiated in the context of the European energy crisis linked to the war in Ukraine.
“An Absolute Red Line”
“Anyone who thinks they could roll France back on nuclear power by any means is gravely mistaken, we will never relent on
independence from France,” he added. “Everyone must respect each nation’s sovereign choices in terms of the energy mix. Germany has indicated that it will respect France’s energy decisions. This is good news. We have always respected the German elections. And it would not occur to me (…) to go and criticize the energy options of this or that nation”.
“Pay the right price”
The minister specified that the Government wanted to see the European project completed before the end of the year and that it should, according to France, allow consumers to pay prices “close to the production costs of national mixtures” and not favor or harm any media of private production.
New regulatory framework at the end of 2023
He cited the same deadline of the end of 2023 to present a new regulatory framework for electricity in France, which should guarantee “the fairest possible price” to allow both “to protect consumers”, guarantee the industry “a comparative advantage” and finance development. of the electrical system.
The current regulation known as Arenh (regulated access to historical nuclear electricity), which allows EDF’s competitors to buy volumes of nuclear electricity from it at a preferential price and which the indebted group points out weighs on its accounts, will expire at the end of 2025 While manufacturers will start meeting their electricity needs two years in advance in early 2024, the need to give them visibility, as well as electricity providers, on price developments after the end of Arenh, however , it is becoming more and more pressing.
Source: BFM TV
