After Germany, Italy, Poland and other European countries, France is also the victim of cuts in Russian gas supplies, which could “complicate” at the “rhythm” of the unpredictable worsening of the war in Ukraine.
Uniper, in Germany, and Ena, in Italy, confirmed significant cuts in Russian gas supplies on Wednesday.
In France, GRTgaz and Engie confirmed late Friday that Russian gas flows had been reduced by 60% since the beginning of the year.
The Government of Emmanuel Macron took discreet preventive measures in recent days, fearing reprisals from Vladimir Putin in the face of the most recent European measures.
Nuclear energy offers France a much higher margin of energy independence than the rest of its allied neighbors.
Russian gas represents between 17 and 20% of the consumption of this energy source.
Simone Tagliapietra, a specialist at the Bruegel Institute, analyzes the evolution of the crisis in this way: «The latest reductions in Russian gas supplies mean an escalation in pressure against Germany, France and Italy. Paris, Berlin and Rome thought that by accepting the payment terms desired by Moscow, Russia would avoid gas cuts. Serious mistake. Vladimir Putin has succeeded in dividing Europe on this ground, too.”
From a strictly business point of view, in France, GRTgaz shows some caution, estimating that France would not suffer seriously if there were new, more important outages in the coming weeks. On the contrary, the prolongation of the crisis could aggravate the problems, even with an increase in consumer prices.
