MPs and senators should soon have debated France’s main climate and energy orientations. They should have included in the law, almost a year late, ambitious guidelines and targets that would make it possible to massively reduce greenhouse gas emissions and start moving away from fossil fuels, while guaranteeing the security of supply for the French.

That will not be the case: just a few weeks before it is presented to the Council of Ministers, the draft bill on energy sovereignty will be stripped of its entire programmatic component. No more targets to reduce emissions, reduce consumption or even restart nuclear energy: after the reshuffle, the new executive decided on this ” move “ the inclusion of these elements in a legal text without setting a new deadline.

This umpteenth setback on the path to what should have been a “major energy and climate programming law” reflects the government’s fear of not being able to produce a text on both renewable energy and… Say goodbye to nuclear energy. And it also eliminates the possibility of debate in the chamber, a crucial step for political leaders and public opinion to take ownership of these issues.

“Unacceptable”

On Wednesday morning, January 17, members of the National Council for Ecological Transition (CNTE) were informed by email of the disappearance of the entire programmatic part (title one) of the bill, while the body was asked to give an opinion on the text. Six CNTE organizations, including Réseau Action Climat, said this “dismayed” and request a reception by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

“The democratic debate about our climate and energy goals is essential, they responded. The government is not providing any explanation at this time; Navigating on sight without explicit commitment would be unacceptable and could only delay the necessary acceleration of ecological change. »

During the day, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and then the Ministry for the Economy, which has just taken over the energy portfolio, confirmed the deletion of title one. “The consultations [menées sur la stratégie française énergie-climat] have shown that it is beneficial to take more time to find the right balance between the different levers of our energy policy in order to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.”, they reasoned. On Tuesday evening, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, did not mention this postponement to journalists, but assured that France had done so “a strategy, a plan”and that the time was “Implementation”.

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