Is there still time to rectify the situation for the last great environmental law of the five-year term?

“The account is not there”, launched on February 9, 110 NGOs
in an open letter to the President of the Republic, to denounce the lack of ambition of the “Climate and Resilience” bill.

Advertising, food, mobility, artificialization of soils … This last major environmental law of the five-year term “will accelerate the ecological transition in all areas of our daily life”, promises the executive. All this while drawing inspiration from the work of the 150 French people drawn by lot from the Citizen’s Climate Convention, to whom Emmanuel Macron had asked to work on ways to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. A “democratic innovation”, again praises the executive.

A hope of rectifying the weakening fire?

But between the 146 proposals of the Convention submitted this summer and what remains in the bill, voices are raised to denounce the many downgrades, including that of the association Les 150, which brings together former members of the Convention.

On February 9, there was still hope of being able to rectify the situation when the text was passed through Parliament. This legislative work began on March 8 with the review of the 69 articles of the bill by a special committee bringing together 71 deputies from all political stripes. First fifteen days of debate which left the Climate Action Network (RAC), federation of environmental associations, worried, while a second stage will open on Monday, with the examination in plenary session.

“Of the 5,000 amendments tabled by the deputies within the framework of this special committee, 25% were deemed inadmissible from the outset due to a very strict reading of article 45 of the Constitution on the legislative rider [qui permet de refuser tout amendement jugé sans lien avec le texte de loi examiné] , deplores Meike Fink, “Just climate transition” manager at RAC. However, many of these amendments were relevant, either because they aimed to raise the ambition of the text or to return to the original proposals of the Convention. “

Debates reduced to their minimum portion?

“We were sometimes in the absurd, confirms Matthew Orphan, member not registered, very active on ecological questions. Cycling, for example,
disappeared from the text presented by the government, while the Citizens’ Convention made several proposals on it. All the amendments tabled to reintroduce it were automatically discarded on the grounds that the bill does not contain the word “bicycle”. ” Sure
corporate eco-responsibility, the development of railways or the ban on the most polluting farms, the RAC also regrets debates reduced to their bare minimum, or even to nothing, after the majority of the amendments were deemed inadmissible.

And when amendments crossed this first obstacle, they often faced the unfavorable opinions of the government and the rapporteurs, always deplores the RAC. in its report prepared on Thursday. In the end, “on the fifteen most structuring measures, the examination in committee has in no way allowed to raise the ambition of the government copy”, summarizes Meike Fink.

Is it even the reverse sometimes? The question arises about the energy renovation of buildings. “A majority amendment, passed in committee, gives a cheap definition of what a high-performance renovation is, by including buildings labeled C or D.
in the energy performance diagnosis after renovation, alert Etienne Charbit, from
Cler-Réseau for the Energy Transition. This does not correspond to the recommendations of
Ademe, nor to those of
Sichel report on the tracks to change gear in terms of energy renovation in France, and handed over to the government last week. “

Possible openings in plenary …

“Let’s say that a large part of the hopes for structuring advances were returned to the plenary session, slips Jean-Charles Colas-Roy, LREM deputy, who is among those who want to raise the ambition of the bill. It is indeed this stage which begins Monday, because it remains the most important, if only because it is more publicized ”, estimates Meike Fink.

7,251 amendments were tabled to prepare for this new examination, welcomes the general rapporteur Jean-René Cazeneuve sure
Twitter, seeing in it the guarantee of an in-depth democratic debate. Will they be better received this time? Matthieu Orphelin expects “the executive loose ballast on one or two small points to look good”. “On the bike”, he bet in particular Thursday noon. In the evening, the government actually presented an amendment to change the premium for the conversion of polluting vehicles, with the possibility of replacing them with a bicycle.

Jean-Charles Colas-Roy also hopes for reinforcements in the supervision of advertising, the progress of the calendar on the end of combustion vehicles, or the energy renovation of buildings.

VICTORY! FINALLY the @gouvernementFR will change the conversion premium, to encourage the replacement of a #car by a #bike, VAE or cargo bike.
2 years that we ask with many other actors! 🚲💪 You always have to fight;)#ClimateLaw pic.twitter.com/epePQBs0k5

– Matthieu ORPHELIN (@M_Orphelin) March 25, 2021

A programmed legislative period “which does not bode well”

From there to wait for a global increase in ambition? “The government has nevertheless shown a worrying state of mind in committee,” continues Matthieu Orphelin. It was not limited to massive rejections of amendments. The majority also held very caricature positions. As for Barbara pompili [ministre de la Transition écologique], she gave the impression of being there without being there. In any case, she did not prevent setbacks on the text, she who said that she would not accept any. “

The decision to apply the planned legislative time during the plenary session does not bode well either, according to the RAC. “The rule, used when the legislative calendar is considered busy, allows the upstream time for debate in session on a bill to be limited,” Meike Fink explains. For “Climate and resilience”, the 69 articles will have to be reviewed in 45 hours without the possibility of overflowing. 60% of this time will be distributed to opposition groups according to their number of deputies. “Following this logic, non-attached deputies, typically those of the former
EDS group (Ecology, democracy, solidarity), will only have 50 minutes of speaking time over the three weeks, whereas they were often the most invested in committee, ”explains Meike Fink. “It’s a shame,” Jean-Charles Colas-Roy also said about the planned legislative time. In any case, the quality of a legislative debate cannot be measured by the number of amendments tabled, but by the opportunity given to everyone to express themselves. “

Still a long legislative journey?

But the RAC is not giving up. The legislative path is still long, recalls Meike Fink. The text will pass to the Senate between May and June, and the final vote is not expected before September. This still leaves time for NGOs to convince parliamentarians … and to mobilize the French.