The former Housing Minister was narrowly confirmed by Parliament as President of the Independent Authority.
Emmanuelle Wargon was narrowly confirmed at the head of the Energy Regulation Commission (CRE) this Wednesday at midday by the Economic Affairs Commissions of the Senate and the Assembly. She had been proposed to this post by President Emmanuel Macron in July. She thus succeeds Jean-François Carenco, who was appointed Minister Delegate in charge of Overseas Territories in the Borne government.
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The CRE is an independent authority responsible for the proper functioning of the electricity and gas markets. A strategic role at a time when energy prices have been soaring for almost a year and EDF is in the process of (re)nationalisation.
It took little for this appointment to be revoked. In fact, a few hours before the vote, some elected representatives of the majority already saw it beaten. The majority of parliamentarians expressed themselves against, with 48 votes against and 43 for only. But the opposition had to bring together three-fifths to challenge the candidate for the Élysée.
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The former Minister of Housing Emmanuelle Wargon will have a lot to do as president of the CRE, in addition to monitoring the energy markets in these turbulent times. France must reform before 2025 the marketing of nuclear electricity production, which is crucial for keeping prices low for consumers and businesses and for the future profitability of EDF. It will also have to participate in the regulation of the future fleet of six EPR 2s which will have to be built in the coming decades.
Nuclear and renewable energies
More generally, she identified three issues during the hearing on Wednesday morning: “security of supply and energy sovereignty“, the “consumer protection and the competitiveness of our businesses” and “the acceleration of the ecological transition“. “To achieve all these objectives, we must work on sobriety and efficiency, the development of renewable energies and support for nuclear“, she defended.
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