On energy, France's elusive roadmap

After four days of chaotic examination of the energy-climate programming bill in the National Assembly , a large number of deputies finally agreed on one point: at the time of the formal vote on Tuesday, June 24, many agreed that the text resulting from the debates was "absurd" , "incoherent" and "unbalanced" , and above all "not up to the challenges" . Reopening of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant (Haut-Rhin), exit from the rules of the European market, transformation of the status of EDF... and, above all, a moratorium on solar and wind power: the different forces listed what seemed to them to be "nonsense" . Only the extreme right voted in favor of the text, the right preferring to abstain.

Rejected by the deputies, the proposal will continue its parliamentary journey and return to the senators on July 8. But even if the elected officials and the government manage to right the ship, the Assembly's blatant failure to chart a clear energy course is worrying. The contrast between the constantly reaffirmed urgency of getting rid of oil and gas to combat the climate crisis—scientists now assert that limiting global warming to 1.5°C is unattainable —and the country's inability to develop a strategy on the issue is particularly striking.

How did we get here? In February 2022, in his speech in Belfort, Emmanuel Macron announced his plan: reviving nuclear power, developing renewables, and reducing consumption. The Energy Code, a collection of laws on the subject, stipulates that this presidential intention be translated into a programming law, defining the main priorities, which must be adopted no later than July ¹ , 2023. This must then be translated into an operational roadmap, the third edition—after those of 2016 and 2020—of the multi-year energy program setting objectives by sector.

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