Environmental protection, okay, but never in pain. In an interview at Point published Thursday, June 2, Elisabeth Borne recalls the line of conduct of the executive in terms of ecological transition. “We will not do ecology against the economy, said the Prime Minister, responsible for ecological planning, but we must transform our economic model. » And if she aspires to “radical transformation of our modes of production, travel, housing, our way of eating”this must never be done to the detriment of the French “more fragile”particularly in terms of energy.
In particular, the Prime Minister rules out increasing the “green taxation”intended to encourage the French to change their behavior. “We were able to measure in the previous five-year term that increasing environmental taxation had not advanced the ecological transition, so it was not the right method”, she argues. Said “method” had notably provoked, in 2018, the movement of “yellow vests”, born of the desire of the executive to increase the domestic consumption tax on energy products (TICPE), an increase to which the government had ended by giving up.
To work on the “two strong priorities” what are “get out of fossil fuels and fight against the collapse of biodiversity”Mme Borne instead advances other measures, such as allowing “every French person to have access to an electric vehicle as part of a long-term rental for a monthly amount of less than 100 euros”. She assures that in the first mandate of Emmanuel Macron a million French people changed their vehicle thanks to the conversion bonus, and underlines that his government carries “an ecology of solutions by helping, for example, 700,000 French people to renovate their homes thanks to MaPrimeRénov'”.
“Pragmatism”
“When we say that we no longer want oil-fired boilers, we must be able to offer a financially affordable heating system that meets the comfort objectives of the French,” supports the Prime Minister, who also recognizes the importance of “reduce consumption” and lead to a “balanced mix between nuclear and renewable energies”.
To fight against climate change, Elisabeth Borne puts forward a “very ambitious policy for our oceans and our forests, essential in the future for the capture of CO2 », as well as the fight “against imported pollution, that which is generated by the products consumed on our territory”.
While environmental activists have criticized the appointment to government of ministers with no real environmental background – Amélie de Montchalin, who went from public service to ecological transition, and Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who went from industry to energy transition –, Elisabeth Borne denounces in return “slogan or proclamation ecology”. For her, who claims the “pragmatism”, “ecology is no longer the policy of a few whistleblowers, it is at the heart of our public policies”. On the repeated condition of not “to put our fellow citizens or the economic sectors in difficulty”.