All the difficulty of the exercise has been summed up in one sentence. Can we reindustrialize the country, defend its jobs, and have exemplary climate regulations at the same time? All this while inflation encourages consumers to buy ever cheaper? On the occasion of the presentation of his plan to “green” the industry, Thursday, May 11, Emmanuel Macron called for a ” break “ in European regulations, in order to preserve local players subject to competition from countries with lower environmental prices, such as China, a major producer of solar panels, wind turbine blades and turbines, and electric cars.
“We don’t just want to be a green market, but to produce green on our soilexplained the Head of State in front of an audience of 300 guests – ministers, elected officials, business leaders, representatives of employers, unions and associations – invited to the village hall of the Elysée, including the European Commissioner Thierry Breton. We have already passed a lot of regulations at European level, more than our neighbors (…) Now we have to execute, not make new rule changes, because otherwise we will lose all the players. »
Emmanuel Macron’s words immediately caused trouble in Brussels, even in his own camp, which had not anticipated such an exit. On the European scene, it is indeed the conservatives of the European People’s Party (EPP) who are calling for a moratorium on several environmental texts of the European Green Deal.
“An unfortunate phrase”
“ He straddles the nag of the EPP. It makes no sense “deplores Philippe Lamberts, president of the Greens group in the European Parliament. “It’s true that global warming is over, it’s really time to take a break…”ironically, for her part, her “rebellious” colleague, Manon Aubry, president of the group of the radical left (GUE) in the European Parliament. “ We have been defending the idea of a legislative moratorium for several months. We are almost going to ask Emmanuel Macron for a copyright ”reacts for his part François-Xavier Bellamy, MEP Les Républicains (LR), who points to the “absolute contradiction” between presidential remarks and the work of elected Macronists in Brussels. Which are struggling to hide their embarrassment.
The Elysée tenant had “an unfortunate phrase that does not reflect what France is doing. He has since clarified that it is not a question of going back on the legislation under negotiation”comments the macronist Pascal Canfin, president of the environment committee of the European Parliament. “The president has never spoken of a moratorium or the repeal of the current standards or those under negotiation”for his part hastened to let the Elysee Palace know.
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