Macron Urges Firms Not to Sign ‘Crazy’ Electricity Contracts

(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron urged small and medium-sized businesses to hold off on agreeing to new electricity contracts at “crazy prices” as governments work to calm markets rattled by the energy crisis.

“Don’t sign them today,” Macron told BFM TV in an interview broadcast on Thursday, referring to attempts to get companies to commit to revised power deals.

“We’re in the process of renegotiating the price of electricity and gas to make the markets function again,” he said. “In the coming weeks we will ensure collectively in Europe, with the Americans and others, that we return to more reasonable prices and give visibility on gas and electricity prices so it’s all bearable.”

The president said that households and businesses would be able to get through the winter without rationing as long as everyone plays their part and reduces consumption, adding that there’s “no need to panic.”

France will continue to export gas to European neighbors that comes mainly from Norway via port terminals, Macron said in the interview, which took place on a plane on his way back from the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

At the same time, France “will import electricity because we have difficulties, we are currently underproducing compared with what we should be doing,” he said.

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