"No CEO of a public group has such heavy challenges to face as the head of EDF"

All bosses know that they can be dismissed ad nutum by their shareholders. With a nod or a jerk of the chin, as in ancient times, and sometimes without their name appearing on the "death warrant." This is the fate Emmanuel Macron reserved for the CEO of Electricité de France (EDF), Luc Rémont. Lapidarily, the Elysée Palace announced on March 21 that "the President of the Republic is considering appointing Mr. Bernard Fontana as Chairman and CEO of EDF." Without mentioning his predecessor, who was punished for his indocility. The head of Framatome undoubtedly had this iron law in mind on Monday, May 5, when the group's general meeting was to confirm the presidential choice and Parliament's carte blanche.

Why such "attention" from public authorities, unique in the public sphere? You don't dismiss a SNCF president under the pretext that train tickets are too expensive; even sensitive, the subject remains a consumer matter. Things are quite different with EDF. Electricity production is a strategic activity above all others in the war for low-carbon reindustrialization as it is for day-to-day economic life—the recent blackout suffered by the Spanish and Portuguese has just reminded us of this.

But the French giant is even more than that, as if the slogan of the 1990s – "EDF, we owe you more than just light" – remained relevant: a public service supplying the regions and very popular among the French on the eve of its 80th anniversary. Bernard Fontana summed up this formula on April 30th, during his major speech before parliamentarians: "EDF is not a company like any other." A conviction shared by the government since the group's delisting and total renationalization.

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