Roland Lescure reopens the debate on France's energy sovereignty and plans a law this year

The debate around a future law on energy sovereignty, supposed to set France's course to move away from fossil fuels and the means to achieve it, is reopened and should result in a law "within the year", said namely Sunday February 11 the Minister of Industry and Energy Roland Lescure.

“What I want first of all is for it to be a public debate,” declared the Minister Delegate on France 3, in the program Dimanche en politique. “And obviously there will be legislative provisions that will pass through the Assembly, so there will be a law one way or another.”

It is planned "during the year" but "not necessarily in the first half" because "I want to take the time for the debate", it will be "at the latest" by the end of the year - "I hope that we will get there before then,” added Mr. Lescure.

A preliminary draft law on the subject had been drawn up before the reshuffle, which the government decided in January to remove any objectives in terms of climate and choice of energy, ensuring that it wanted to take more time for the discussion. This decision aroused incomprehension, particularly among environmental associations. Questions such as "how many renewable or nuclear energies in 2030 and 2035" or "what objectives for reducing greenhouse gases and energy savings" have thus disappeared from the text.

For Roland Lescure, the debate must take place both "with all the associations which are concerned" and with parliamentarians. The minister assured that he had made contact on Friday, the day after his appointment, with "all the associations interested in electricity", producers, consumers, and NGOs...

The discussions will take place "with the different parliamentary groups, in order to see, broadly speaking, whether they are ready to cooperate within a constructive legislative framework, or whether we are in the position where we risk having difficulty reaching a majority,” said Mr. Lescure.

If necessary, “we will find a political agreement,” he said.

He said he preferred the idea of a "global debate" on "global balance", recalling that Agnès Pannier-Runacher, to whom he succeeded at Energy, had "made two laws", voted in Parliament even if the government does not have a majority, one on nuclear power and the other on wind power.

"There is no urgency. Electricity regulation, (...) which means that we pay less for electricity than elsewhere, runs until 2025 (...). We are going to take our time to ensure that we have a good law that protects us all and allows us to invest,” said Roland Lescure.