An “emergency response”.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne presented her sobriety plan on Thursday to get through the winter without a hitch in the face of the energy crisis, but also to adapt to the climate emergency.
Pressed by the economy, households and businesses will have to relearn how to reduce their consumption during peak hours, in the morning and evening, and to burn less gas throughout the winter.
After months of cogitation and a communication plan sometimes mocked in the ranks of the opposition, the government is now showing its cards.
Without going into the details of the measures unveiled on Wednesday by Le Parisien, Élisabeth Borne boasted a plan "up to the challenge".
Heating recommended at 19 degrees in administrative buildings and private homes, teleworking encouraged for civil servants, renovation work on public buildings... "The State must set an example and with it, communities, businesses and citizens must act together,” she hammered.
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In passing, the Minister for the Ecological Transition recalled the State's objective: "reduce our energy consumption by 10% at the national level over the next two years".
As already announced, the government will launch in this direction on October 10 a vast communication operation around this sobriety plan and the good gestures to adopt.
This will be available on television, radio, in the written press and in the form of posters around the slogan “I lower, I turn off and I shift”.
"Neither produce less, nor choose to decrease"
“This communication campaign aims to show that we are all in the same boat, that we can all act”, defended the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, speaking shortly before Élisabeth Borne.
"We all have our role to play, all our part to take according to our means," added the Prime Minister.
In addition, the Ecowatt system will allow everyone to know when to limit their energy consumption.
Faced with the actors concerned, the head of government was reassuring, repeating that “together, we will get through this winter without a break”.
In the process, she recalled the issue of a "chosen sobriety" which has become "a necessity".
"That does not mean producing less, or choosing to decrease," she insisted.
And to add that "these are sometimes insignificant but large-scale gestures that will have a considerable impact and which will reduce our footprint on the climate".
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Because if Elisabeth Borne recalled the will for the executive to cross the winter without difficulty in the face of the energy crisis, the ambitions are announced greater.
More than an “emergency response”, this sobriety plan must also generate “awareness” in the long term, insisted the head of government.
In other words, allow everyone, as far as possible, to rethink their modes of transport and their consumption habits.
The Prime Minister recalled the State's desire to “escape” its fragile dependence “on fossil fuels” in the long term, by aiming for “a controlled transition towards a carbon-free and more sovereign energy mix around nuclear and renewable energy”.
“Sobriety has never been such a serious issue,” concluded the head of government.
