France's bakers are allowed to terminate contracts with suppliers free of charge

Enlarge image

Proud trade: A baker with freshly baked baguettes in Nice

PHOTO: ERIC GAILLARD / REUTERS

In view of the sharp rise in energy prices, the French government has promised support for the country's traditional bakeries.

After a meeting with energy suppliers such as EDF and TotalEnergie, Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire announced that bakeries with excessively high and unacceptable energy costs will be able to terminate their contracts free of charge in individual cases.

According to Le Maire, this commitment would have “made all suppliers without exception”.

Contracts could now be reviewed "on a case by case" basis, depending on the baker's particular situation.

The industry will also create "payment options" for bakers with liquidity problems.

Before the meeting, Le Maire had clearly criticized the companies.

"The utilities don't help the bakeries and the small and medium-sized businesses enough," he said.

The minister urged energy suppliers to do more immediately.

Otherwise, action would be taken to ensure that they honored their commitments.

French media had reported on bakeries facing huge challenges due to increased energy costs.

The newspaper Le Parisien, for example, wrote about a bakery near Paris that would have to pay ten times more for its electricity from March.

The broadcaster BFMTV reported on a bakery in northern France that only opens its doors at weekends due to high energy costs.

Similar to Germany, bakeries in France are also complaining about sharply increased costs.

The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has both pushed up energy prices and made grain more expensive.

dab/dpa/Reuters