Sébastien Lecornu has made his decision: no new price cap to absorb the rising energy costs. The message is clear, almost cold, given that the government knows how much a few extra cents at the pump means to the nation's mood.
In Paris, there are already fears of a domino effect on inflation and purchasing power, but the idea of a general subsidy is considered too costly at a time when budgetary margins are shrinking rapidly. So, not everyone will be dipping into their pockets again, not this time.
The phrase that keeps coming up in the Assembly: "oil shock"
In the National Assembly, Roland Lescure chose a term rarely used at this level: "oil shock." The Minister of the Economy admitted that the price increase no longer resembled a temporary surge and could become entrenched, against the backdrop of the 25-day-long US-Israeli war in Iran. The figures speak for themselves: a 60% increase in oil prices and a 70% increase in gas prices since the start of the conflict, with sectors on the front lines—logistics, agriculture, fishing, construction—all dependent on an energy source that is anything but abstract when the bills arrive.
In the absence of a general shield, the government is letting another, more targeted approach slip away: aid to modest households, temporary boosts to certain professions, all under the watchful eye of the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister's office: to protect without going too far, to hold firm without promising the impossible, and to see how far market tensions will push France.
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