For months the UK has been powering France via our underwater electricity cables

Last year the French were threatening to cut off UK electricity over a few fishing licences….

Montage © Facts4EU.Org

Facts4EU.Org has accessed the French grid and can reveal their new dependence on Brexit Britain

Liz Truss was right to say “The jury’s out” on the French government of Emmanuel Macron. It was only in October that ministers in his government were making threats against the United Kingdom, suggesting that the electricity supply from France to the UK was in peril if more fishing licences were not issued to French boats that had no provable claim to them.

Now the worm has turned.

Facts4EU.Org has been able to access the French National Grid’s flow rates and can show how France is currently dependent on the UK for part of its electricity supply, via the underwater cables running between the two countries.

Firstly, how Liz Truss faced up to the French threats

Last week the anti-Brexit press was full of how Liz Truss declined to call France a friend, when asked “France: friend or foe?” in the latest hustings.

Instead she chose to say that such decisions are made based on French actions, stating: “The jury’s out.”

Readers can watch the relevant part of Liz Truss's hustings performance below, together with President Macron's rather haughty response.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said it is a “problem” if Britain cannot call itself a friend of France, amid an unexpected diplomatic row sparked by comments made by Liz Truss to TalkTV's Julia Hartley Brewer.@JuliaHB1 | #TalkTV pic.twitter.com/0C5HAgWpiO
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) August 26, 2022

Ms Truss has experience of the French government. As Foreign Secretary she felt obliged to ask her Minister for Europe to summon the French Ambassador for a ticking off.

This came after President Macron’s then Europe Minister, Clément Beaune, made a series of disparaging and threatening remarks on France’s major radio station and on his personal Twitter account. Here is one example:-

“The Channel Islands, the U.K. are dependent on us for their energy supply. They think they can live on their own and badmouth Europe as well. And because it doesn’t work, they indulge in oneupmanship, and in an aggressive way.”
- Clément Beaune, interview with Europe1 radio, 05 Oct 2021

Here is how this was written up by Bloomberg:

It’s now France that is dependent on the UK for electricity

Yesterday Facts4EU.Org was able to access the French National Grid, to see just which way the electricity is flowing along the underwater cables linking France with the United Kingdom. We looked at the full 24 hour figures for the previous day - Saturday 27 August 2022.

Below we can reveal exclusively that on Saturday it was all one way from the UK to France. This information is the official record of the cross border flows and it comes via the EU’s regulatory body for the electricity transmission system across the bloc.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The UK’s electricity sent to France, Sat 27 Aug 2022

Latest official figures from the EU

[Source: Regulator for EU energy supplies]

ALL the electricity went one way - from Brexit Britain to France.

Why do the French now need us?

The simple answer is that the French have relied on their ageing nuclear power plants for many years. Unfortunately it seems that they have not been investing in maintenance or upgrades and French media is reporting that around half the 56 French reactors are now off-line.

This problem is affecting the entire electrical grid in the EU. Luckily for the French and other EU countries, the newly independent United Kingdom has been able to help them out.

The UK is now not only a net exporter of electricity to France, but also (to a lesser degree) to Belgium and the Netherlands. This has been the case since April and industry experts say this looks set to continue.

Observations

It is deeply regrettable that President Macron and his ministers such as M. Darmanin (Priti Patel’s opposite number) and Clément Beaune have all made disparaging remarks about the United Kingdom, as well as making threats.

This follows the pattern set by the EU Commission from the morning of the EU Referendum result.

Sadly, the rot set in under the weak leadership of Theresa May. The EU Commission and some of the EU27 member countries seemed to feel that the United Kingdom was on the back foot and was – in effect – a supplicant.

Our report above shows just one more example of how the EU needs the UK. As France and the EU struggle to keep the lights on, it can only be hoped that French ministers and others will start to moderate their language and begin to have some respect for the fifth-largest economy in the world which sits on their doorstep.

Not many people would work on a Bank Holiday Saturday, Sunday and Monday in August

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Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Bank Holiday Monday, 29 Aug 2022

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Reader Comments 14

1. LuxuryBalloon , Monday, August 29, 2022, 09:00:

Great news . Brexit Britain has energy coming out of its ears. This should bring down energy prices.

2. John Hardman , Monday, August 29, 2022, 09:08:

The French elite are just the same as Putin threatening to cut off gas.
The difference is that the French started the threats and now Putin is at it.
Shame on you France and shame on you EU for staying silent on the French threats.
You have to wonder why the world is like it is when a country so close to the UK can threaten the UK with energy.
French and EU is not our friend and never will be.

3. Ashley Great Britain , Monday, August 29, 2022, 09:14:

Classic French and EU behaviour.
The opposite of Clément Beaune's statement above is true.
They are the aggressors.
To them Britain is a nation to be dominated and wealth extracted from.
For decade's we have had weak supplicant leadership.
Liz truss clearly poses a different view, And therefore a threat.
Macrons rapid, Defencive statement shows that.
Dare to dream that liz could actually be strong, And true to her word.

4. Llwyd bignold , Monday, August 29, 2022, 12:44:

Perhaps we should be telling our “friends and partners” we will restrict this supply unless they are willing to fulfill their obligation of preventing illegal cross channel migration (for which they’ve now received almost £200 million of British taxpayers money!).

5. terence patrick hewett , Monday, August 29, 2022, 12:57:

To ask the EU to behave in a civilised manner is to put lipstick on a pig: the kermits have been conducting a hybrid war against the UK for years: they and the EU only respect power so the only response that will work is to ramp up the discomfort to a level they cannot sustain. They're only be good neighbours when they are forced.

6. Tony Fisher , Monday, August 29, 2022, 14:51:

You won't hear that on the news

7. Adam , Monday, August 29, 2022, 15:14:

I have been to Germany and France several times since the referendum believe me the average person in Europe are not the enemy it's little irritants like Macron and Leo Varadkar that are the issue, how sad the Remoaners are so treacherous and would wish harm on Britain Ms Truss is correct about the tiresome French President

8. Adam , Monday, August 29, 2022, 15:17:

The French scarpered when the Royal Navy turned up in Jersey when Monsieur pipsqueak Macron threatened to cut Jersey's power We need to do this more often if Foreigners threaten Britain

9. RW , Monday, August 29, 2022, 15:29:

We have had weak leaders for decades now, this is the reason we are in this mess. I really hope that Liz can show leadership but I fear she can't until she sorts the civil service out. I wish her luck with that.

10. jon livesey , Monday, August 29, 2022, 17:44:

1. LuxuryBalloon What we really have is capacity for energy storage and transformation. We have very large capacity for gasification, so we are doing a trade where we import a lot of LNG, turn it from liquid to gas form, export part of it to the EU by pipeline, turn part of it into electricity in gas-fired power stations, use part of that electricity domestically and export part of it to France and the Netherlands. It's not that we suddenly discovered loads of energy, but that we have the capacity to handle energy that the rest of Europe lacks.

14 comments, page 1 of 2

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