Posted Jul 22, 2023, 12:21 PM
Last vote before the summer break. The National embly adopted in first reading, on the night of Friday to this Saturday, the bill on green industry, which intends to make it possible to reindustrialize the country while promoting ecological transition. In a sometimes overheated atmosphere, the text was approved with the support of the LR and RN by 217 votes for, 75 against and 18 abstentions, at the end of the extraordinary session in July.
The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, was pleased to “start the relocation” and the “decarbonization” of the industry after, according to him, “three decades of renunciation”. The deputies as well as the senators, who had already validated this bill in June, will try at the start of the school year to agree on a compromise version, with a view to its final adoption.
Far from the American IRA
If Les Républicains came out in favor, it was “without enthusiasm”, dropped Virginie Duby-Muller, pointing to “blind spots on training and financing” in particular, far from the very voluntarist policy of the “ Inflation Reduction Act American. Same position on the side of the National Rally, where Alexandre Loubet regretted that “the mountain gives birth to a mouse”. The left was divided between voting against (LFI and environmentalists) and abstention (socialists and communists), all deploring “a missed meeting”. Liot’s independents also abstained.
The bill sets the objective of halving the average time required to obtain authorization to open a factory, currently estimated at 17 months. The objective is to encourage projects like those of the “big five”: wind, photovoltaic, heat pumps, batteries, carbon-free hydrogen. For some projects of “major national interest”, designated by decree, an exceptional procedure is provided for, giving the hand to the State.
The executive emphasizes the mobilization of private savings, rather than public money. With a new product, the “future climate savings plan”, whose executive expects 1 billion euros in collection for the green industry. It was to be open to those under 18, an age raised to 21 on Friday evening in session. By the voice of Gérard Leseul, the Socialists deplored with this savings plan a financing which is “not decent” in view of the issues. A label will also be created to give virtuous companies privileged access to public procurement, a “Copernican revolution” according to the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure.
“Say on climate”
Since the start of the exchanges on Monday, the deputies had made little change in the measures. In the home stretch, against the government’s advice, they adopted amendments from environmentalists and some macronists to generalize the ” say on climate to consult shareholders on a company’s climate strategy.
The state will have to define a “national strategy” on green industry for 2030, the deputies voted unanimously earlier, confirming an addition from the Senate. The rebellious Sophia Chikirou took advantage of the subject to challenge Roland Lescure on the recent purchase of a gas boiler by the Elysée, saying she was “shocked”.
But it was to replace an oil-fired boiler and it “will only work 20 to 30% of the time when the heat pump that has been installed will not be enough”, retorted the minister, uring that “the Elysée is green”.