The end of the tunnel after an unexpected agreement reached between deputies and senators

0



It was far from won, but the Joint Joint Commission (CMP) on the Climate and Resilience Bill was conclusive on Monday evening. The CMP, made up of seven deputies for as many senators, are set up when the two parliamentary chambers fail to agree on a bill. And on the Climate and Resilience project, the last major environmental law of the five-year term and which reflects part of the 146 proposals of the Citizen’s Climate Convention, there were many points of disagreement. Pompili, and the Senate, dominated by the right.

Finally, after nine hours of discussions – “which makes it probably one of the longest CMP in the history of the Republic”, we slip at the Ministry of Ecological Transition, an agreement was found.

“The red lines have not been crossed”

After the examination of the Climate Bill by the Senate, completed on June 29, the government had pointed out several setbacks endorsed by the upper chamber on the text as it had been voted by the National Assembly. And then made the return to the previous version a condition sine qua non to achieve a conclusive CMP.

“The red lines set by the government have not been crossed,” we welcomed this Tuesday in the entourage of Barbara Pompili. The main one concerned low emission zones (ZFE), a system supported by the State and allowing towns to restrict traffic to the most polluting vehicles on their territory. The text initially proposed the generalization of EPZs to agglomerations of more than 150,000 inhabitants by 2025, then prohibiting the circulation in these areas of vehicles from Crit’Air 3. The Senate had postponed their implementation by five years. in place. The CMP returned to 2025 overnight.

The Senate had also moved back six years the prohibition on letting classified E accommodation, by changing it from 2034 to 2040. The original date has been restored. Another major sticking point is that of vegetarian menus in school canteens. Since November 2019, as part of the Egalim law of 2018, an experiment has been launched to offer students a vegetarian menu of their choice once a week. The National Assembly voted for its generalization in April, the Senate going back over it to prefer an extension of the experiment already in progress. The CMP returned to the principle of generalization.

Advances voted by the Senate also preserved

The version of the National Assembly was also restored on the issue of nitrogen fertilizers. To reduce the use by agriculture, the government envisaged, via this bill, a tax on these nitrogenous fertilizers, if ever the trajectory of decrease in ammonia emissions [issues très majoritairement de l’utilisation d’engrais azotés] was not held for two consecutive years. The Senate had rejected this idea of ​​a royalty, preferring a non-binding “Eco-Azot” plan to support farmers.

“The Senators had also deleted an article from the bill which allowed mayors to regulate lighting devices in shop windows, it has been restored as a CMP”, continues a collaborator of Barbara Pompili. The CMP also reinstated the experiment of the “Yes pub” which the Senate had withdrawn. This device will prohibit the distribution of leaflets in mailboxes unless the owners give their approval via this “Yes advertising” sticker.

Agreements were also reached on the energy component of the bill, in particular on wind power. The Senate had voted the principle of a right of veto of the mayors on the installation of wind turbines in their communes against the opinion of Barbara Pompili, who feared the “taking hostage of these elected by certain associations, by certain groups” . “This right of veto no longer appears in the text, but the mayors will be well consulted for the projects of wind farms, which makes it possible to take into account the concerns pointed out by the Senators”, we slip to the Ministry of Ecological transition.

On Twitter, Barbara Pompili also cites advances voted in the Senate which were retained at the end of the CMP. In particular the ban on the use of nitrogen fertilizers in non-agricultural areas. The same goes for the ban, from 2028, on advertising in favor of the sale or promoting the purchase of the most polluting cars (which emit more than 123 g / km CO2). The Senate had added this measure to the Climate Bill which until then only provided for the ban on advertising on fossil fuels.

The end of the parliamentary process before the end of July

In the end, this bill should consist of around 320 articles. This Climate and Resilience bill now remains to be definitively voted on. This should be done at the National Assembly next Tuesday, at the end of the afternoon, after questions to the government. There will also be a vote in the Senate, the date of which has not yet been set. Be that as it may, “the parliamentary process will be finished before the end of July,” one says, still at the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

This bill should help France to try to achieve the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, but is strongly criticized by environmental NGOs and ecologists for its “lack of ‘ambition “. “Nothing of what was voted in the text is up to the initial proposals of the 150 citizens of the citizens’ convention”, recalls, on Twitter, the Climate Action Network, before unfolding its remarks.

This lack of ambition pointed out by NGOs could be even more glaring from this Wednesday. The European Commission must present a series of proposals in order to enable the European Union to reach its new climate target for 2030, which recently dropped from minus 40% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990, to minus 55%. Expected repercussions for France, which should in turn have to revise its climate ambitions upwards.





Source link