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By ARTHUR NAZARET
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— The liquidation of Systovi is part of the electoral campaign.
— Hydroelectricity: rather a parliamentary or governmental mission?
— Green fund: the renovation of schools is protected.
Hello everyone, it is Monday April 22 and your newsletter has just returned from this beautiful city of Dijon, the city of nonnettes (those wonderful little bites of gingerbread stuffed with orange jam), of Canon Kir (yes, it is the one who gave its name to this somewhat outdated aperitif based on crème de cassis and aligoté white wine) and Robert Poujade, mayor for a long time but also — and this is where I was going with this — the prime minister of environment in 1971.
“The Ministry of the Impossible”, his book on the subject, is an absolute recommendation for your newsletter. We discover this significant anecdote, which takes place just before the first council of ministers. His colleague in charge of the Economy said to Robert Poujade: “Your ministry is interesting. It should not cost the state anything.”
SOLAR CAMPAIGN. The judicial liquidation of Systovi, a manufacturer of photovoltaic panels, is “becoming politicized”, we note in Macronie. “It has become a flag,” adds a press release from the majority, a month and a few before the European elections.
“Autonomy” must come to fruition urgently, urges on the Luxembourger Nicolas Schmit, head of the list of European socialists, who regrets the “disparity” of these manufacturers in Europe. We need “a European investment plan in clean technologies”, argues Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, researcher specializing in energy policies and candidate on the PS-Place Publique list.
Control and support. Matthias Tavel, LFI deputy neighboring Systovi and campaign director of Manon Aubry, is calling for a “surtax” on imported panels, texting your servant that we must “cap volumes, condition calls for public tenders or aid to particular to panels produced in France or at least in Europe”. The ecologists, for their part, put forward their “Ecological Sovereignty Fund”. It could have made it possible to “buy back and save Systovi”, explains their head of list Marie Toussaint.
At the other end of the political spectrumMP Jean-Philippe Tanguy (RN) – who replaces Jordan Bardella when it comes to debating ecology – scolds a Europe which “does nothing apart from chatting and taking measurements”.
Accused of having “abandoned” the company, Roland Lescure’s cabinet promises that France is not left with its hands in its pockets. “At European level, we pushed to have non-price criteria for calls for tenders”, within the regulation Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) which wants to encourage the relocation of green industries. “It’s very difficult to explain in four sentences,” laments the communicator already cited above. And it’s too late for Systovi.
**Get ready for the next debate in Maastricht, join us and our newly confirmed candidate Ursula Von der Leyen – President of the European Commission. This edition of the Maastricht debate is not to be missed! Join us online and participate in democracy alongside some of the most influential voices in the EU. register here.**
15 hoursRoland Lescure and Patrice Vergriete, Ministers of Industry and Transport respectively, are going to Upway in Genneviliers to support the electric bike reconditioning industry.
At 8:45 p.m.or 2:45 p.m. in Ottawa, Canada, Christophe Béchu speaks during the meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating committee for the plastic treaty.
Assembly and Senate : vacation. Resumption of sessions on April 29 in the Assembly and the next day for the Senate
MISSION WITHHOLD. Yours truly informed that the Assembly’s Eco Affairs Committee is expected to launch a parliamentary mission on hydropower on May 15. According to a person familiar with the project, but who cherishes his anonymity, the idea is that this mission will be chaired by Marie-Noëlle Battistel (PS), at the forefront of this subject and author of a report in 2013, already. Antoine Armand (Renaissance) and Vincent Rolland (LR) will be proposed as co-rapporteurs.
Battistel blocks. The socialist MP, who admits that the “circle” idea, is not very happy about it: “With Antoine Armand, we think that a mission to the government is much more suited to the situation. This allows us to have more resources. And custom dictates that its delivery be followed by a legislative text.
Electricity in the air. Marie-Noëlle Battistel also argues that she does not need a parliamentary mission, having already launched her transpartisan working group, as your newsletter revealed to you in mid-April. It will be “just as suitable” as an official parliamentary mission, argues the MP for Isère, who plans the first hearings for April 30. In short, a nice showdown is shaping up.
Exit from the dispute with the European Union is imperative and everyone (EDF, MPs, the government) agrees on this point. “A certain number of concessions have expired and to date the subject has not been resolved,” recalls Vincent Rolland for whom “energy must remain French”. The socialists want a semi-governed regime. EDF, for its part, is campaigning for an authorization regime, which would require the State to cede the dams to the company.
LIGHTER GREEN. The circular awaited by community representatives on the future of the Green Fund was published on Friday. It confirms the protection of the envelope for the renovation of educational establishments.
It’s not circulating. Signed on April 4 by Christophe Béchu on April 4 and transmitted to the prefects the next day, it updates the criteria for selecting files. In the hands of the prefects for two weeks, the information had not yet reached the community associations.
Pour as a reminder, The Green Fund was due to increase by 500 million this year but has paid the price for recent budget cuts and will ultimately remain, more or less, at its level of last year, i.e. 2 billion euros. Communities were worried about the consequences of these cuts on the distribution of funds, as we told you about last week.
What doesn’t change:
— The 500 million euros for the energy renovation of school buildings.
— The 30 million euros for sustainable mobility in the countryside.
— The objective of 15% of projects in the city’s political districts.
Married projects:
— The Territories of Industry program loses 30% of its budget.
— The modernization of public lighting, which received considerable support last year, is no longer a priority and is capped at 15% of the project cost.
Budget constraint. “The major priorities of the year are protected and reaffirmed,” wants to assure those around the Minister of Ecological Transition. But this is only the beginning: concerns about the deficit require a “precautionary reserve” of 7% of the credits requested from prefects, “in order to preserve, if necessary, our national budgetary capacities”, specifies the circular.
ATOMIC REACTION. The first installation of Jimmy Energy’s mini nuclear reactor in a sugar factory in Marne, mentioned on Friday by your favorite daily newsletter, aroused the interest of Environmentalists, who met last night to prepare their response.
At the same time, Green senator Daniel Salmon is writing a letter to the Nuclear Safety Authority to ask them for an informal interview on this subject, informed my colleague Nicolas Camut.
IT’S HOT. In a report published this morning, the World Meteorological Organization and Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, highlight that global warming is increasingly putting Europe at risk. The report on the state of the climate in Europe that our colleague Zia Weise was able to consult, looks back at the year 2023, a year when many superlatives were used: the biggest fires, the biggest heat wave and the biggest number of days of “extreme heat stress”.
At the risk of carelessness. Despite repeated reports, “there is still a shared perception that this heat does not represent an acute risk,” warns Malcolm Mistry, professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Mortality. European countries are insufficiently prepared to deal with future heat waves which are likely to become more and more frequent. Between 2000 and 2020, deaths linked to these heat photos increased by 94% in areas that were monitored.
— Le Monde visited Portugal, which plans that in 2030, 85% of the energy consumed will be of renewable origin.
— France needs a chief scientific advisor, argue, in a contribution to Science, Patrick Lemaire and François Massol, representatives of the College of Learned Societies.
— “If it remains interesting to nationalize TotalEnergies to better control decarbonization, it seems even more relevant to tax its superprofits,” propose four economists in an article in Le Monde.
A big thank you to Zia Weise and our editor Alexandre Léchenet.
Politico
