A baker shows freshly-bakedÊbaguettes at "Armand" bakery in Nice, France, November 28, 2022. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File Photo
PARIS: French energy suppliers are not doing enough to help the country's bakeries cope with soaring energy bills, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday.
Le Maire, who will meet with the country's energy firms later in the day to discuss the matter, warned the government had "the tools to make energy suppliers meet their commitments towards the state and the companies".
He however did not say what these tools could be nor name the energy suppliers he was targeting.
"The state will not let down anyone. The state will not let down its bakers," Le Maire told a news conference, stressing the crisis came as the baguette, France’s staple bread, made it onto the United Nation’s cultural heritage list in November.
"The French state is doing its share to help bakers, energy suppliers must do their share," Le Maire added.
Le Maire also said the state will write to France's 33,000 bakers to detail the existing and future help they can expect. Earlier in the day, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne had confirmed plans to help French bakers cope with rising energy bills, allowing them to spread the payment of their taxes over time and possibly "the payment of their energy bills for the first months of the year."
