The French authorities reshuffle on Thursday (11 January) marked the top of the pairing of the Ecology and Vitality Ministries, with commentators suggesting this marks a shift to an industrial conception of power primarily centered on the relaunch of France’s nuclear trade.
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Following the French authorities reshuffle, which noticed the power portfolio return to the financial system ministry, power transition minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher has introduced her resignation.
After 17 years along with the Ecology Ministry on the Hôtel de Roquelaure, the power portfolio will return to Bercy below the auspices of the Economic system Ministry, headed for the previous seven years by Bruno Le Maire, who has been reappointed below the brand new Attal authorities.
Pannier-Runacher, who spent 20 months as Vitality Transition Minister, left her put up on Thursday. She has not but commented on the matter, with rumours suggesting she might take over the well being portfolio.
For his half, Economic system Minister Bruno Le Maire was eager to thank French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Attal “for his or her confidence”.
With the power portfolio returning to the Economic system Ministry, a brand new chapter is opening up in France’s power transition, centered on industrial coverage, commentators say.
“Vitality at Bercy is sweet information: it’s the economic transition of the century,” Antoine Armand, a French centrist deputy who led a particular inquiry committee final yr trying into why France misplaced power sovereignty and independence, reacted.
In different phrases, “the separation of Vitality and Ecology means the return of a primarily industrial and financial conception of power”, famous environmental lawyer Arnaud Gossement on X.
“It’s a return to the thought of sovereignty that was introduced within the ‘power sovereignty’ invoice,” he continued, referring to a invoice unveiled on Monday (7 January), which can go down because the Vitality Ministry’s final main achievement below Pannier-Runacher.
On the centre of the French power sovereignty invoice is the sturdy emphasis on nuclear energy.
“The interpretation of this invoice is now clarified by this main change within the organisation of the State’s administrative equipment. The precedence for electrical energy manufacturing is returning to nuclear energy,” Gossement provides.
EDF on the centre of consideration
Pannier-Runacher and Le Maire have labored carefully collectively on this discipline, notably regarding EDF, the now totally state-owned energy utility that’s the cornerstone of the French electrical energy system.
EDF was recapitalised by the State below Le Maire’s supervision in June.
In mid-November, Le Maire, flanked by Pannier-Runacher and EDF CEO Luc Rémont, introduced the corporate’s future nuclear enterprise mannequin with nice fanfare.
The deal is essentially backed by the Economic system Ministry, in addition to the French electrical energy sector, which is dominated by the nuclear trade.
“Vitality and industrial sovereignty go hand in hand,” agreed the Union française de l’électricité, an affiliation that brings collectively gamers within the sector.
For EDF, the subsequent stage guarantees to be eventful because it consists of financing current and new nuclear energy crops, developing new reactors, and recruiting greater than 100,000 individuals within the sector.
Local weather coverage on the backburner?
For others like Philippe Martin, who was minister for ecology and power in 2013-2014, the top of the ministry is “unhealthy information”.
“The ‘power’ side is important to maintain a balanced path within the ecological and power transition,” he mentioned on X.
“The switch of the power sector to the Economic system Ministry is a scandalous step backwards and an extra illustration that the power coverage of Emmanuel Macron’s authorities boils right down to an obsession with reviving nuclear energy, no matter the fee,” added an alarmed Greenpeace.
For Jules Nyssen, President of the French Renewable Energies Union, separating environmental and power points can also be a “unhealthy sign”.
“It appears to me […] notably essential {that a} ministry ought to have duty […] for steering the transformation of our power system in order that it will possibly benefit from the abundance of various power sources,” he commented on LinkedIn.
Penalties in Brussels
As Vitality Transition Minister, Pannier-Runacher went on a pro-nuclear campaign in Brussels, profitable quite a few concessions from her counterparts for the popularity of nuclear energy on the EU degree.
“The possible absence of the Minister for Ecology [or Energy] from the conferences of European power ministers is worrying,” says Martin.
Within the absence of an power minister, who will characterize France on the EU Vitality Councils any further?
In Germany, Robert Habeck, who leads a “tremendous ministry” combining the Economic system and Local weather Motion, attends EU power councils in particular person, though his Secretary of State, Sven Giegold, typically takes his place.
Making a mega-ministry like Germany’s “would have been extra impressed than separating ‘ecological transition’ and ‘power’,” argued Joseph Dellatte, a researcher in local weather coverage on the Institut Montaigne.
In the intervening time, Le Maire’s nearer involvement in power subjects may additionally revive Franco-German relations.
In accordance with sources within the Bundestag, relations between Pannier-Runacher and Habeck had been so bitter that the pair refused to make joint appearances at Franco-German parliamentary assemblies.
Quite the opposite, Le Maire, a self-confessed Germanophile, is seen as an asset in relaunching Franco-German dialogue on power points.
For now although, the power portfolio within the financial system ministry stays vacant. And nobody is sort of positive whether or not it is going to go to a devoted secretary of state or whether or not the portfolio shall be connected to the Workplace of Minister Delegate for Business, Roland Lescure.
[Edited by Frédéric Simon/Nathalie Weatherald]
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