After a winter marked by energy sobriety, due to a risk of power cuts, the question of the future of nuclear power is on everyone’s lips. With it also comes that of EDF and its 100% renationalisation. Guest of the Grand Rendez-vous d’Europe 1 / CNews / Les Échos, the Minister of Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher returned to this question. For her, the objective is to “make EDF the armed wing of our energy strategy. It is very clear and there is no ambiguity about that”, she assured. The government is “in the process of finalizing the rise in the capital of EDF, that is to say to ensure that EDF is a 100% public company”, adds Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
“The absolute priority is the ability to produce more electricity in France”
As for the tensions between the government and Luc Rémont, the CEO of EDF, the Minister for Energy Transition assures “that there are above all discussions and that’s good. I want things to be put on the table. I want us to face the difficulties and we are doing it with Luc Rémont. The absolute priority is operational excellence and the ability to produce more electricity in France”, insists Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
A necessity for the minister, especially after the energy tensions of last winter. “Last year, we produced 100 terawatt hours less than in 2021. 100 terawatt hours less is 30% less electricity. It’s absolutely gigantic, and that’s also why we We were in a situation of energy tension”, she explains.
“Seek our independence”
For the Minister, these difficulties “have nothing to do with the electricity market”: “the fact of starting maintenance and finishing it on time, the fact of linking the stages in time, the fact to coordinate the teams has nothing to do with it”.
For Agnès Pannier-Runacher, “what is at stake today is to seek much more comfort in terms of electricity production, our independence, by producing more on the basis of our existing nuclear fleet. And that it’s possible, it’s operational measures, it’s work, it’s recruitment, it’s engineers, it’s technicians. And I would also like to salute here all the EDF employees who made it possible to spend the winter and to reconnect the nuclear power plants in time”, concludes the Minister for Energy Transition.