French President Emmanuel Macron caused a stir on Wednesday (24 August) as he spoke about entering an age where consumers will have to stop living in abundance at a time when inflation levels are reaching record levels and many are worried about paying sky-high energy bills.
Read the original French article here.
“We are living through the end of abundance”, the president said at the start of the Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday (24 August). The end is nigh for limitless availability of products, energy and water, the French leader continued.
The comments follow a summer that saw areas of France, Portugal and Greece ravaged by forest fires, with long drought periods affecting Germany and the Czech Republic.
In his speech, Macron also announced that ministers will be meeting next week to discuss climate change, particularly to discuss the renewable energy bill the government wants to adopt this autumn.
While “it is complicated to be optimistic when you see the summer we had”, one minister, who wished to stay anonymous, told EURACTIV, an adviser to the Elysée said that “the spirit of the government is not at all pessimistic.”
Record inflation hot topic ahead of French legislative elections
Record inflation and sluggish growth threatening the purchasing power of the French are at the heart of the political debate as elections just a few more days to go before the country goes to the polls on 12 and 19 June. EURACTIV France reports.
Change in rhetoric
The statement marks a shift from Macron’s previous rhetoric. In 2020, the leader mocked those who preferred the “Amish ecological model” and the “oil lamp” at a gathering with some of the largest French tech companies.
Now his tone is very different as he spoke of “the end of carelessness” and the arrival of a “great turning point.”
Such a shift can also be felt among other high-level officials of Macron’s majority. Transport Minister, Clément Beaune, recently said he would push for an EU-wide ban on private jet use.
Efforts are needed, “starting with the richest,” said Pascal Canfin, Renaissance MEP and chairman of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, in an interview with broadcaster RTL on Wednesday morning.
“We must make it compulsory for these jets to be emissions-free from a certain date,” he said, noting that this would then enable the technology to be extended to commercial aircraft.
The EU lawmaker is also proposing to regulate polluting activities with what he called the “sobriety police”.
The European directive on energy efficiency that is currently under review could also become the first EU law with binding climate objectives, particularly with regard to the efficiency of final energy consumption.
Can France ensure its energy security this winter?
Alongside the rest of the EU, France is facing serious uncertainties about the security of its energy supply for this winter. Despite government assurances that gas stocks will be replenished in time, many are becoming increasingly concerned about coming shortages and potential electricity blackouts.
The Left’s reaction
The president’s comments have left some members of the opposition, particularly the Left, bemused.
“It’s good that he’s realised this,” Green MEP Sandrine Rousseau told EURACTIV France.
The president “has done nothing” for the environment during his term in office, she said, noting the failure of the Citizen’s Climate Convention – an unprecedented experiment which saw a group of random citizens come up with 149 proposals to tackle climate change. Only a handful were taken up by the government.
Rousseau also pointed to Macron’s hypocrisy, saying “he was jet-skiing” during the forest fires that ravaged Southwest France. The “affluent” lifestyle Macron says is coming to an end “has only existed for a few,” she added.
Reducing consumption
Reducing energy consumption has become a priority in the EU and France since the war in Ukraine pushed leaders to cut energy supplies from Russia.
As the French brace for a difficult winter amid rising gas prices and reduced capacity, the president was speaking with honesty and transparency, calling on the nation to be united, government spokesperson Olivier Véran said about the president’s speech.
Véran said the government did not want to force the French to reduce their consumption, but accompany them towards “virtuous attitudes”.
Before the summer, Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher repeatedly called on the French to not set their air conditioning below 26°C over the summer and not set their heating above 19°C over the coming winter.
Though these are still recommendations, EU member states agreed at the end of July to a 15% decrease in gas consumption between August and March 2023.
EU-27 approves demand gas reduction plan after power struggle with Brussels
EU energy ministers greenlit a plan on Tuesday (26 July) to reduce gas consumption and prepare for potential disruptions to Russian gas flows after a power struggle with the European Commission over who could implement mandatory targets.
[Théo Bourgery-Gonse contributed to reporting]
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald/Daniel Eck/Benjamin Fox]
Source: euractiv.com
