Lecornu wants to finalize the energy roadmap quickly.

Like the budget, which no political party claims to have created, this Multiannual Energy Programme (PPE) 2025-2035 will be the result of a "compromise", the government believes, between the supporters of nuclear power, which emerges strengthened, and those of renewable energies, which will be preserved but probably slowed down.

The Prime Minister is due to present this roadmap on Thursday on the sidelines of a visit to two dams in the Jura region, before publishing it on Friday in a decree.

There is an "urgency" and "extensive debates have taken place," the decree "will take this into account," he explained to the regional press on Saturday, even though the government had planned, at the beginning of 2024, to proceed through legislation. "A strategic error," a minister now admits.

The National Rally, which considers the place given to renewables to be too favorable, had made adoption by decree a ground for censure.

But on Monday, the leader of the RN deputies, Marine Le Pen, no longer spoke of censorship, even though the publication of the PPE remains for her "a serious mistake by the Prime Minister".

"The real mistake would be to do nothing," replied Sébastien Lecornu on X, pointing to the "geopolitical dependence" on hydrocarbons which has become "dangerous".

"Not perfect"

The war between pro-renewables and pro-nuclear has intensified particularly with the political crisis stemming from the dissolution in the summer of 2024.

The debates became heated during the unfinished examination of a bill proposed by LR Senator Daniel Grémillet, which advocated a massive revival of nuclear power, and a demand from the head of the right, Bruno Retailleau, to end public aid for wind and solar power.

In an interview with L'Opinion on Wednesday, he argued that the Prime Minister "lacks the necessary legitimacy" to pursue this energy policy, which he said "compromises the country's economic and industrial future." Energy Minister Roland Lescure responded before the Senate that these comments were "outdated."

However, this did not appease the reservations of the LR and centrist senators who denounced on Wednesday in an opinion piece "a power grab" by the government.

But "the budget debate has passed" and lessened the threat of a censure, notes LR MP Raphaël Schellenberger. No one will vote for a censure with the RN "mired in its legal troubles and the municipal elections," adds Green MP Julie Laernoes.

These two elected officials, however, emphasize the urgency of having a framework, awaited for more than two and a half years, to launch investments or anticipate training and employment needs.

The decree "allows for the purging of a legal issue" but its content "will not be perfect", according to Mr. Schellenberger.

Because on the balance between nuclear and renewables, or supply and demand, due to the lack of a majority in the Assembly, "we are not in a political situation where we are able to decide," he acknowledges, but "there is room for maneuver in the execution."

Review clause

In short, there will be no moratorium on renewables but "nothing will happen" on the ground, where prefects will not be mobilized to promote them, explains an industry source.

Ms. Laernoes, who came to support solar and wind energy workers near the National Assembly on Tuesday, warned that a moratorium would amount to "the destruction of the entire sector".

"The primary goal of this PPE is to ensure France's energy independence at the most competitive price possible," summarizes the Prime Minister's entourage, while both the RN and the left are worried about the electricity bills of the French.

Like the budget, "it may not satisfy everyone exactly, but faced with industrial, climate and energy sovereignty emergencies, there was a will to move forward," argues Bercy, which considers the RN and LFI "outside the scope of the negotiation" by their "refusal of any compromise".

And if the roadmap were to stir up passions again, a review clause is already planned for 2027, the year of the presidential election which will "arbitrate", a member of parliament suggests.