Energy roadmap: parliamentarians and experts are alarmed by a "drift"

"Our energy policy is drifting": Right-wing and centrist parliamentarians, along with former energy sector executives, launched a call on Tuesday, April 1, to suspend the publication of the multi-year energy program (PPE3) while advocating "a 60-year energy trajectory."

The expected publication in the coming days of a decree setting out France's energy roadmap continues to fuel mobilization in Parliament.

Following a letter from 160 senators to Prime Minister François Bayrou, and following the threats of censure that the National Rally is leaving hanging over this issue, parliamentarians have this time joined forces with several experts in the sector to try to change the government's position.

"We refuse to allow energy to become the new marker of public powerlessness, or the breeding ground for popular anger," worries this collective, which brings together senators, deputies, but also former energy executives such as the former bosses of EDF Henri Proglio and of the Electricity Transmission Network (RTE) André Merlin.

The third Multi-Year Energy Program (PPE), which sets targets for energy production and consumption for the period 2025-2035 to put France on the path to carbon neutrality by 2050, is being finalized and should be adopted by decree in the coming days.

"A trajectory imposed, not chosen. A multi-year energy program (PPE) conceived in another world - that of before the crises, before the war, before the explosion of electricity bills," the signatories of this appeal castigated during a press conference. Some did not mince their words in expressing concern about a draft decree giving "prominence to intermittent energies (wind or photovoltaic)" or to "the ideology of renewables."

The parliamentarians, including Vincent Louault and Henri Alfandari (Horizons), Stéphane Piednoir and Raphaël Schellenberger (Les Républicains), are calling on the government to return to Parliament to vote on this roadmap, a request already made by the RN in recent days.

In particular, they hope to see a Senate bill soon debated in the National Assembly, an option to which the Minister of Industry and Energy, Marc Ferracci, has already said he is "open."

They also call for the "maintenance" of an amendment by Mr. Alfandari adopted in committee in the National Assembly as part of a "simplification" bill, laying the groundwork for a debate in the chamber on energy planning and establishing the principle of a "60-year energy trajectory."

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.