Lenin said that communism was soviets plus electricity. For Yannick Jadot, we don’t know what’s going on with the soviets, but the second point is of great interest to him. The environmental candidate for the presidency affirmed, this Sunday, to want to “renationalize” EDF by a change of status, by redoing a public industrial and commercial establishment (EPIC). “Electricity is a common good. EDF must be renationalized as an EPIC public establishment., said Yannick Jadot in a message posted on Twitter.
At the microphone of the RTL-Le Figaro – LCI Grand Jury, this Sunday noon, the candidate was able to clarify his thoughts. “What I want is for EDF to become a powerful, coherent strategic tool at the service of the energy transition., explained the MEP. When the State closes a nuclear power plant, astronomical compensation is paid to EDF and to the shareholders. Today you have an EDF operator who, through government decisions, is in the process of making hara-kiri so that Total and Engie make record profits and pay astronomical dividends to their shareholders. According to him, going from almost 84% to 100% of EDF’s capital for the State, it costse “around 5 to 6 billion euros, it is much cheaper”.
The Flamanville EPR, “absolute fiasco”
EDF accumulates the setbacks while the government asked him to increase by 20% the volume of nuclear electricity sold at a reduced price to its competitors this year, in order to limit the increase in electricity prices for consumers. Friday, the price of the electrical group fell on the stock market. The efforts required by the government are not the only ones in question: EDF is also experiencing difficulties in several of its nuclear power plants, which have been shut down because they are facing corrosion problems. In some cases, the shutdown will last until the end of the year.
Finally, there is the case of the Flamanville EPR site, described as “absolute fiasco” by Yannick Jadot. EDF announced on Wednesday that the start-up of this new generation nuclear reactor was postponed to 2023, in particular due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a new additional cost of 300 million euros. Under construction since 2007, the EPR was initially to be commissioned in 2012, but the construction site was affected by numerous setbacks and additional costs. The environmental candidate is asking for a parliamentary commission of inquiry on the subject. “No one, not a minister, not an EDF official is before a commission of inquiry to justify 17 billion euros” overrun, according to him (20 billion according to the Court of Auditors, against 3.3 billion initially planned). “Do you realize that 17 billion is almost the budget for higher education? And you have people who brew billions of euros of public money without ever being accountable., he lamented.