Germany and France pledged mutual assistance to avoid an energy crisis

Germany and France pledged mutual assistance to avoid an energy crisis

Germany and France pledged Friday to work together to avoid an energy crisis if Russia’s supplies dried up due to the conflict in Ukraine.

Germany will provide France with power in exchange for much-needed natural gas, according to a joint deal signed by German Chancellor @OlafScholz and French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

“Friends support each other in need,” Scholz remarked following the Berlin signing ceremony.
Borne agreed, stating that the alliance between the two European heavyweights was vital. “It has already demonstrated its ability to resist tests and overcome numerous hurdles,” she said.

Meanwhile, due to renovations at some of the country’s nuclear power reactors, France is failing to satisfy its electricity needs. There are fears that a large increase in electricity consumption from France this winter, combined with weaker output in Germany and restricted transmission capacity in Europe, may strain Europe’s infrastructure.

In return, France stated that it would supply up to 100 gigatonnes of gas per day to Germany. In the meanwhile, Germany plans to “maximize interconnection capacity” for electricity exports.

According to the deal, Berlin will also allow “all available reserve power plants to re-enter the market and postpone the phase-out of the remaining nuclear power plants until mid-April 2023 in order to even supply greater electricity trading volumes to France.”