On Tuesday, left-wing MPs in the French National Assembly questioned the government on Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher’s legitimacy to pursue her duties after she was accused of a conflict of interest in a journalistic investigation.
Read this article in French here.
On Tuesday (8 November), the independent investigation website Disclose revealed that Pannier-Runacher’s children are partners in a French company set up by her father in 2016.
Most of the company’s capital — up to approximately €1.2 million — came from the minister’s father. Part of these amounts supposedly come from hedge funds operating from tax havens also housing investments of the second-largest French oil group, Perenco, of which the father of the minister is a former executive.
Since her children were minors at the time, Agnès Pannier-Runacher signed the company’s incorporation documents as their legal representative.
Questions from the left
During the session of questions to the government on Tuesday, three left-wing speakers challenged the government on the issue.
Pannier-Runacher, alongside Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, was questioned about alleged links with the oil industry and the potential conflict of interest it implies.
Socialist Party MP Arthur Delaporte pointed out that, for the four years she has been in government, the minister did not mention the existence of the company in her declaration of interests.
Pannier-Runacher first denounced Disclose‘s “false and calumnious allegations”, before adding that, as it is a “French company subject to French tax,” there is “nothing hidden”.
She does not deny the existence of the company or the nature of its portfolio, but she challenged the accusation that she failed to comply with her reporting obligations since she “does not and will never benefit from these funds,” as she has “no right, currently or in the future, over this company.”
The minister said that she has no legal obligation to declare assets that do not belong to her.
Aurélien Saintoul, MP from the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI), insisted that the matter was, in fact, a conflict of interest of the minister.
Pannier-Runacher “checks all the boxes of the bingo of the oligarchy: tax evasion, nepotism, concealment and conflict of interest with the most polluting industries,” Saintoul said.
“How can we believe in her desire to phase out fossil fuels when her children’s wealth is directly linked to these industries?” he asked the government, referring to oil company Perenco, from where part of the company’s funds allegedly come.
However, the minister denied that these funds have any direct or indirect link with Perenco, insisting that she “did not, in the context of [her] activities as minister, have any knowledge of the activities of this group”, which does not operate in France.
Fossil fuel phase-out
Pushing to dismiss the allegations of conflict of interest, Pannier-Runacher highlighted that the government “decided to stop all oil exploitation in France, which, by definition, prohibits the company from carrying out its activities in France.”
“This majority is working to phase out fossil fuels,” she continued, notably “by accelerating renewable energies and by reviving the nuclear sector.”
Cyrielle Chatelain, president of the green party (EELV), said that these revelations are likely to call into question “the minister’s ability to carry out her duties impartially and to put general interest first,” urging that Pannier-Runacher resign, as she “seems influenced in the exercise of her responsibilities.”
Prime Minister Borne pushed back at the suggestion, pointing to bills to accelerate renewable energies and nuclear development on which the government is currently working, stressing that these should allow the country to “keep our roadmap for the end of fossil fuels.”
As is typical for such cases, the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP), an independent administrative body safeguarding transparency in French public affairs, told AFP that it has launched “in-depth verifications on the case”.
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[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
