France asks citizens to ration electricity as Russia sanctions backfire
Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Paris
Record-high temperatures are causing France to take increasingly drastic measures amid the West’s sanctions campaign against Russia.
Due to their decision to sanction Russia over the unrest in Ukraine, France and the European Union are desperately trying to build energy stocks ahead of this winter. However, a record heat wave has created a surge in energy consumption, and that’s prompted the government to informally call for the rationing of electricity.
Citizens have been asked to “make an effort” by cutting off wi-fi, unplugging appliances and going without air conditioning. Many in poor neighbourhoods say they expect their streets to go dark earlier and for their social services to be affected first.
The West’s sanctions campaign against Russia continues to force the average household into paying a steep price.
In order to have more control over the national energy grid, this week the government announced they will totally re-nationalise the company “Electricity of France”. The energy giant runs all of the nation’s nuclear power plants.
Nuclear power provides nearly 70 percent of France’s electricity, the most of any country in the world, but a series of outages have sent nuclear power output to its lowest level in nearly 30 years.
Leaders of French energy corporations recently said that energy cuts are “certain” for this winter, and that prolonged cold spells may threaten “social and political cohesion”.
A proposal aiming to give the European Union the right to impose mandatory gas rationing across the bloc’s 27 member countries was immediately shot down by the nations of southern Europe this week. They called it the farthest-reaching power grab by Brussels this year, and it was especially controversial because individual national vetoes were not allowed under an emergency procedure employed by the leaders of the European Union.
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