A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #359 - PPE: More Nuclear Power, Less Democracy (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The PPE is the multi-year energy program. It is mandated by the 2015 
Energy Transition Law: the national low-carbon strategy outlines the 
trajectories for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while the PPE sets 
out, energy source by energy source, the main directions of energy 
policy in mainland France. ---- The First PPEs ---- Normally, PPEs cover 
two five-year periods, except for the first, which was intended to cover 
a period of three years followed by five. It was approved in 2016 by 
decree for the periods 2016-2018 and 2018-2023. It aimed to reduce 
energy consumption, increase renewable energy capacity, develop electric 
vehicles, decrease the share of nuclear power, and move towards a more 
flexible and resilient energy system. This is the famous limit on 
nuclear power to 50% of electricity production by 2025, announced by 
Hollande, which led to the closure of Fessenheim. The Multiannual Energy 
Program (PPE) is then translated into various implementing decrees (for 
example, on the energy renovation of buildings or the elimination of 
single-use plastic bags) and financial resources. Normally, the 
Environmental Authority, the National Council for Ecological Transition 
(CNTE), the High Council for Energy (CSE), and the public must be 
consulted. At the end of 2015, the government published an initial 
draft; a second was sent for consultation to a monitoring committee in 
July 2016 and was approved by decree at the end of October.
The second PPE was put under study in 2017, and there was a public 
debate in 2018. You didn't notice? I don't quite remember either. These 
are the debates of the National Commission for Public Debate (we discuss 
them in the article on Newcleo), primarily held online with a few 
in-person meetings requiring registration. Only those who follow the 
National Commission for Public Debate are aware of them, so anti-nuclear 
activists and environmentalists, naturally. But for everyone else, the 
media doesn't exactly give them much publicity, except to announce that 
they're over, and sometimes in a short article that they're about to 
begin. The Commission was updated in January 2020 and set objectives for 
2023 and 2028, including the closure of 4 to 6 nuclear reactors.

And then Jupiter appeared. This Multiannual Energy Program (PPE) 
effectively became obsolete in February 2022, when Emmanuel Macron, in 
his Belfort speech, announced the revival of nuclear power (civilian and 
military). Well, yeah, why bother respecting the consultation and 
legitimization processes that the government itself had put in place? 
So, everything had to be redone to meet the demands of our Sun King.

You've surely noticed that it's 2026, and therefore it's a bit late to 
set the 2023 targets, and it's high time we had some clarity on those 
for 2028. Because energy production plants don't spring up overnight. 
And on the other hand, we tend to consume energy every day. Meanwhile, 
renewable energy producers are panicking, uncertain about permits, 
subsidies, aid to households, and so on. As for the nuclear power 
producer (for now, there's only EDF), the panic is obviously less 
pronounced. They have the ear of those in power, receive funding, and 
are kept informed of the foreseeable future. But ultimately, they too 
would benefit from some certainty. And naturally, with our prime 
ministers on short-term contracts and Jupiter's petty electoral 
maneuvering, it doesn't exactly facilitate the passage of legislation.

There was a consultation process that lasted until mid-December 2024, 
and then we were consulted in March 2025. Yes, really... It's not my 
fault you didn't bother to participate. Well, actually, it is a little: 
your favorite monthly magazine never mentioned it. I don't need to spell 
it out for you to understand what's expected from a debate framed and 
formatted by those in power, the conclusion of which is known in 
advance. And besides, this debate is advisory; we know what those in 
power do with consultations if, by chance, despite all the precautions 
taken, they turn out not to meet their expectations.

In short, Marc Ferracci[1], after a good two and a half years of 
waiting, published his decree last February. To appease the 
parliamentarians, he promised something amusing: a debate without a vote 
in the National Assembly and the Senate. Why is that amusing? Given that 
only La France Insoumise (LFI) and the Greens don't present themselves 
as pro-nuclear, this government doesn't even dare to pass something that 
parliamentarians would, in theory, support.

This decree is unsurprising: widespread electrification of all uses, a 
revival of nuclear power (apparently it's a carbon-free energy source!). 
It's worth noting that the High Council for the Climate and the 
Environmental Authority, which are hardly eco-terrorists, have issued an 
unfavorable opinion.

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4680
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