Energy sovereignty: debates without a vote irritate parliamentarians

On Monday, April 28, François Bayrou must have heard a slight echo during his speech on the multi-year energy program (PPE) before the National Assembly. "The importance of this debate is not lost on anyone. We only need to take a peripheral glance to understand to what extent we are, each and every one of us, concerned by the central question of our energy sovereignty , " the Prime Minister joked in front of a dozen or so deputies, at most, present in the Chamber.

The ranks will undoubtedly be fuller on Tuesday, May 6, in the Senate, for the return of discussions around the PPE. But the tenor of the debates should be quite similar following the government's decision to revise by decree this program, which should allow France to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and thus avoid the parliamentary route. "We can regret the absence of deputies last week on such a major subject, but the Prime Minister has largely reaped what he sowed," summarizes Senator (Les Républicains, LR) Max Brisson.

Like 164 of his right-wing and centrist counterparts, the elected representative from Pyrénées-Atlantiques signed a letter in mid-March calling on the executive to abandon the immediate publication of a decree on this PPE and to open, at the very least, a debate in Parliament. A wish granted by the government, but without allowing the national representation to vote, which angered a good number of parliamentarians.

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