A consultation organized by the government was launched on Thursday to allow the general public to express themselves on the future of the French energy mix, with nuclear power at the heart of the debates. This consultation, which should last until December 31, had been promised by Emmanuel Macron when he announced, in Belfort in February, the construction of six new generation EPR nuclear reactors with an option for eight more.
An online participatory platform
It will take place via an online participatory platform (concertation-energie.gouv.fr) and through several meetings in the country, as well as a “youth forum” bringing together 200 young people in mid-January. It comes as Parliament must vote no later than 2024 on France’s future energy roadmap (setting in particular what share for each energy).
Three main questions will be asked to the public
This consultation will benefit from the follow-up of four guarantors of the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP), an independent administrative authority which advised the government on its organizational methods. Their mission: to guarantee transparency, neutrality, and the “duty to follow up”, in this case a summary which will be added to the parliamentary proceedings.
Three main questions will be asked to the public, with the objective of carbon neutrality in 2050 (consisting of not generating more greenhouse gas emissions than we can absorb): how to adapt our consumption? How can we meet our energy needs while getting out of our dependence on fossil fuels? How to plan and finance our energy transition? “Achieving these objectives involves real societal choices on our way of consuming and producing, of moving around, of housing,” the government underlined in its press release on Thursday.
Government strategy: reduce consumption and decarbonize
The government strategy aims to reduce consumption (sobriety and energy efficiency), and to decarbonize the way in which electricity is generated, with renewables and nuclear power. Could the conclusions of this consultation possibly change these orientations? “There are major axes that have been outlined by President Emmanuel Macron (…) but there is the question of how, that is what is at the heart of this consultation and we must define more precisely the way in which we will detail this policy”, underlines the Ministry of Energy Transition.
At the same time, another debate is due to begin on October 27, on the construction of future EPRs, and organized this time directly by the CNDP. This public debate, a legal obligation for EDF, will therefore take place in parallel with government consultation, until February 27, in Normandy – the first two EPRs being planned for Penly (Seine-Maritime) – but also in the rest of France. .