by Stefano Montefiori
The interview at the end of the trip to the USA. The hypothetical cuts alternate for up to two hours. In the case of suspensions in the morning, the schools remain closed
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
PARIS French President Emmanuel Macron has returned from a state visit to the United States and is trying to reassure his compatriots about possible power outages in January. Don’t panic, Macron said in an interview with broadcaster TF1, in which he took stock of his trip to America and addressed the most pressing domestic issues.
Concern is spreading in France after the government sent a circular to prefects last Wednesday urging them to prepare their departments for the possibility of a blackout. There are questions about how schools, hospitals, supermarkets and even road traffic (traffic lights don’t work) should be organized in the event of a power failure, but according to Macron it is normal for the government to prepare for an extreme case, even resorting to fictional scenarios. According to the President, thanks to the sobriety plan presented by the government in October, France will be able to get through the winter without any problems, even with the cold snaps in December and especially in January.
If the situation worsens, we must be ready and that is the meaning of the circular sent to all prefects except those of Corsica, which produces its own electricity and is in any case connected to the Italian electricity grid. The hypothetical cuts are alternated up to two hours, but part of the population is never separated since they are linked to a line of priority, a circumstance that affects 40% of French people. The prefects are called to identify the 3,800 at-risk patients who rely on grid-connected medical equipment at home. You have to make sure they have their own generator or organize transport to the hospital. The assumed power outages will be during peak hours between 8am and 1pm and 6pm and 8pm. Schools remain closed during power outages in the morning.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Macron said he was again ready to talk to Putin, specifically about civil nuclear power, after speaking to the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency to protect the Zaporizhia power plant located in a contested area. Under fire. The French President has again invoked a possible negotiation with Russia and also the Russian fear of seeing NATO at its borders. This question will be one of the factors of peace and therefore also needs to be prepared: what are we ready to do, how to protect our allies and member states, while providing guarantees for Russia’s own security on the day of its return to the table? .
It’s a workhorse of Macron’s diplomacy, an issue the French president raised before the war during his Feb. 9 visit to the Kremlin. During the press conference, following the conversation behind the famous, very long table chosen by Putin, Macron said he understood Russia’s concerns and offered to revisit a global security deal with Russia in Europe. An opening that had no consequences, because the invasion of Ukraine began two weeks after Putin.
Now Macron is recalling the question of NATO at Russia’s gates, and that seems to suggest to some observers that France is pushing for negotiations more than others. In fact, in the same interview, the French President is very clear about the need for comprehensive support to Ukraine and the fact that it is up to Ukraine to decide on the terms of a possible cessation of hostilities. For example, Macron compares Crimea to Alsace-Lorraine, a French territory that has long been disputed with Germany.
Do you think that when we French had to endure the conquest of Alsace and Lorraine, we wished that a leader of another country would tell us in the middle of the war that you had to do this or that? The border question depends on the Ukrainians. What is at stake in Ukraine and what we defend are the principles of the UN Charter: territorial integrity and national sovereignty. And that’s why I believe in the freedom of people to make their own decisions. It is up to the Ukrainian people to decide for themselves, under what conditions, how, when… Not us.
Finally, in support of Ukraine, Macron says he agrees with US President Biden. I think I can say that the United States and France share the same vision of things: keep helping Ukraine resist, do everything in your power to help Ukrainians resist in the face of bombing of their civilian infrastructure, and do everything to put pressure on Russia back to the negotiating table.
On December 13, the international conference on the resilience of the Ukrainian people will be held in Paris, chaired by Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. There won’t be a peace conference, unfortunately still a long way off, we won’t be talking about negotiations and post-war settlements, but about how we can help the Ukrainians get through the winter. From this point of view, the Macron-Biden meeting added nothing but confirmed what had already been announced on October 28 from the Quai d’Orsay and repeated by Macron on November 1: on December 12 in Paris, the bilateral meeting between France and Ukraine The 13th international conference focused on humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of energy infrastructure bombed by the Russians. One example is the 100 high power power generators already sent from France to Ukraine via Romania, part of a larger European aid of 500 generators. The Paris conference of the 13th and the bilateral meeting of the 12th aim to coordinate aid and alleviate the suffering of the population. The aim is to announce financial aid and concrete actions. France recently announced another 100 million euro emergency loan to Ukraine, after the 300 had already been released last March.
December 4, 2022 (change December 4, 2022 | 12:47)
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