To go “twice as fast” in reducing greenhouse gases. This is what Emmanuel Macron promised in Marseille on April 16, in a speech supposed to embody his ecological shift, but essentially reflecting an alignment with European objectives. To face the “fight of the century » et “to make France the first major nation to get out of gas, oil and coal”he plans to appoint a prime minister “directly responsible for ecological planning”who would be supported by two ministers « forts » : a minister of “energy planning” and a minister “responsible for territorial ecological planning”.
Emmanuel Macron is not the first to want to redraw the contours of his government to better deal with the climate issue. The new German coalition has thus chosen to bring together economy, energy and ecology in a «Superministère» entrusted to an environmental minister. The president did not retain this scheme, fearing a risk of absorption of ecology by the economy given the historical power of Bercy. However, concentrating the ecological transition in a single ministry with less political weight than that of sovereign ministries, no longer makes much sense, it is estimated in the president’s entourage, including from the point of view of administrative sociology . Entrusting it to Matignon should give it more body. But only symbolically: the future Prime Minister would expand his teams of advisers without having real dedicated administrative services, which will remain in the ministries.
remains the most complex. According to several sources, the idea is indeed to cut the current Ministry of Ecological Transition (MTE) to make two separate full-fledged entities. The Ministry of “Energy Planning” will pilot energy policy and therefore the realization of the announcements made by Emmanuel Macron in Belfort on nuclear power, will recover the relevant administrations of the MTE, and will exercise the supervision, or joint supervision with Bercy, of an EDF intended to be renationalized soon. It will also be in charge of the implementation of the climate energy programming law.
“Reasoning abstractly does not work”
The other ministry – that of “territorial ecological planning” – will supervise household support policies, such as the distribution of bonuses for the conversion of vehicles, or aid for thermal renovation of the “MaPrimeRénov” type, part of which are already in the hands of local communities. A choice that finds its source in the crisis of “yellow vests”, “those who fear too rapid changes”, summarized Emmanuel Macron in Marseille. The episode showed that “thinking abstractly at the national level does not work”, indicates a close to the executive. Transport could also join this pole, even if nothing is arbitrated. Everything will depend on the configuration of the future government – different depending on whether it has ten, fifteen or twenty-five ministers – and the political weight of the personalities chosen.
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