On wish much courage – if not pleasure – to the future managing director of Electricité de France (EDF), who will no doubt be Luc Rémont. The head of Schneider Electric’s international activities should take the reins of a strategic group in which the State, 84% shareholder, will regain full control to launch the construction of six to fourteen EPR reactors. Courage, yes, because he will have to deal with a guardianship requiring him, among other challenges, to carry out this nuclear program while avoiding the ruinous drift in the schedule and costs observed in Flamanville (Manche). And without kicking back, like his predecessor Jean-Bernard Lévy, so as not to expose himself to the Jupiterian wrath of Emmanuel Macron.
The new boss will learn it quickly, if he doesn’t already know it: EDF is not a company like the others. What other public company listed on the stock market could the government have deprived of 10 billion euros in operating income to finance the 4% cap on the rise in French electricity bills, while it supports a debt net of 43 billion euros and foresees tens of billions of investments in the near future?
Mr. Lévy had to comply. Not without addressing to the State a gracious recourse so that it reconsiders its decision; then, for lack of response, to seize the Council of State and claim 8.3 billion in compensation. Without more success. His recent skirmish with Mr. Macron will instruct the new CEO. A manager of a public company is like a minister, “Shut up or quit”according to Jean-Pierre Chevènement’s formula.
The government having decided to bring forward his departure by six months, Mr. Lévy let go at the end of August, attributing in particular the shutdown of 30 out of 56 reactors to the State’s plan to close twelve “slices”, after the two from Fessenheim. “We did not hire people to build twelve, we hired to close twelve”he lamented.
“Absolutely unacceptable”snapped Mr. Macron, persuaded to have “restored visibility to the sector” from 2018 by pushing back the gradual shutdown from 2025 to 2035, then removing this deadline. Operation and maintenance are the responsibility of EDF, and their failure is to be attributed to the outgoing boss.
But visibility – and therefore the planning of new power stations necessary for a long-term industry – is the responsibility of the State. And at the highest level, the stakes of financing, supply security and reactor safety are so heavy. The announcement of the new EPRs was delayed until February 2022, on the eve of the presidential election.
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