France eyes further gestures from companies making big profits amid energy crisis soon

"We hope these gestures are amplified," said Veran, as he referred to companies such as TotalEnergies and shipping group CMA CGM, which last month had respectively offered fuel price discounts and lowered container shipping rates. Veran also reaffirmed that France had contingency plans in place to ensure the country had enough supplies of gas and energy to get through the winter, amid concerns about cuts in energy supplied by Russia.

The French government is working with companies making big profits from high energy prices so that they make further gestures to help the French people cope with rising inflation, government spokesman Olivier Veran said on Thursday.

Veran told France Info radio he hoped announcements on the matter could come up soon, possibly by the end of this week. "We hope these gestures are amplified," said Veran, as he referred to companies such as TotalEnergies and shipping group CMA CGM, which last month had respectively offered fuel price discounts and lowered container shipping rates.

Veran also reaffirmed that France had contingency plans in place to ensure the country had enough supplies of gas and energy to get through the winter, amid concerns about cuts in energy supplied by Russia. Russia resumed pumping gas through its biggest pipeline to Germany on Thursday after a 10-day outage, the operator said, easing Europe's supply concerns amid an economic tit-for-tat with the Kremlin over its invasion in Ukraine.