France told to turn off the lights

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on the government and citizens to prepare for a total halt of Russian natural gas supplies, restricting energy use whenever possible.

“We should prepare ourselves for the scenario where we have to go without all Russian gas,” he said, speaking in a televised interview to mark Bastille Day. “The summer, early autumn will be very hard,” the French president warned, referring to the skyrocketing energy costs.

He instructed the government to prepare a “sobriety plan” to conserve energy, which would start with turning off public lights at night when they aren’t useful.

France will keep looking to diversify gas sources, Macron said, calling for a faster shift toward offshore windfarms and more European cross-border energy cooperation to weather the current crisis.

France is less dependent on Russian gas than some of its European neighbors. It receives about 17% of its total gas imports from Moscow.

However, concerns have been growing about winter shortage, as the nation grapples with already limited electricity generation due to unexpected maintenance at its aging nuclear reactors.

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