Emmanuel Macron wants the construction of six new generation EPRs

4:09 p.m. : The authors of the RTE report quoted by Emmanuel Macron wrote it black on white: achieving carbon neutrality “is impossible without a significant development of renewable energies” even while maintaining a policy “voluntary” with respect to nuclear.

4:08 p.m. : Emmanuel Macron announces a massive development of renewable energies by 2050.

4:07 p.m. : “Some claim that it is possible to achieve [à augmenter la production d’électricité] developing only solar and wind power. Others that it is only necessary to bet on nuclear power: no expert says that these two diagrams are realistic.

For Emmanuel Macron, “we have no other choice” than relying on both renewable and nuclear energies.

4:05 p.m. : “Tomorrow’s world will be more electric. We will have to be able to produce up to 60% more electricity than today. (…) We will therefore need to produce a lot more electricity: and the key to doing this in the safest way is to develop renewable energies and nuclear power.”

4:04 p.m. : “The second project of the century, if I may say so, is to produce more carbon-free electricity: the exit from oil and gas within 30 years implies that we replace part of fossil fuels with electricity.”

4:19 p.m. : “The first major project is to consume less energy. The challenge is known: we must reduce our energy consumption by 40% in thirty years. We must achieve this without practicing energy austerity (…) We are there we will arrive through innovation, through investment.”

3:56 p.m. : The President of the Republic hammers home his objective: “To make France, in thirty years, the first major country in the world to get out of dependence on fossil fuels and to strengthen our energy and industrial independence by setting an example in the climate”.

4:18 p.m. : Emmanuel Macron is currently referring to the reports made by RTE. In October 2021, the electricity transmission system operator listed six possible scenarios for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, in accordance with France’s commitments. These ranged from a 100% renewable option to a massive investment in nuclear. Emmanuel Macron seems to have decided on an intermediate trajectory, between scenario N1 and N2 (which you will find on page 17, for the curious).

3:53 p.m. : “The choices that we make and assume today commit the nation, with very concrete consequences for our compatriots. They cannot be taken in haste, nor be the fruit of sometimes purely political debates: they must mature reflect, enlighten them through science and technology.”

4:17 p.m. : “There is no stable industrial production if there is not stable energy at the most competitive prices. There is no energy and climate transition if there is no decarbonization of the energy produced, in particular our electricity.”

3:49 p.m. : “There are choices that commit the nation over the long term: several decades, sometimes a century. The choices concerning energy, investment in infrastructure are among these.”

Emmanuel Macron begins his speech on the country’s energy policy.

4:16 p.m. : Emmanuel Macron speaks from Belfort to make announcements on France’s energy policy “for decades to come”, particularly in the nuclear field. Watch his live video speech by clicking here.

3:44 p.m. : The President of the Republic, who is not yet an official candidate, is to announce this afternoon in Belfort the construction of a series of new second-generation EPR nuclear reactors. A proposal that makes Yannick Jadot jump in advance, for whom the Head of State “is in the process of condemning France to a century of nuclear power”he lambasted from Montpellier (Hérault).

4:02 p.m. : Emmanuel Macron is arrested by employees of General Electric in Belfort. He is justified in particular on the controversial choice to sell the former energy branch of Alstom to GE in 2015, when he was at Bercy. “The choice that was made [par Alstom] was to leave the energy part to consolidate its transport sector. It was then that the takeover by General Electric took place. I don’t know if other industrial choices were smarter, but I do know that it allowed Alstom Transports to hold on, then to buy Bombardier to make an international champion”replies the President of the Republic.

3:58 p.m. : Here is the point on the news at the beginning of the afternoon:

• After the Paris police headquarters, the Belgian authorities announce that they want to ban access to Brussels for the “freedom convoy” because of “risks of public order disturbances”.

• Two months before the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron unveils this afternoon in Belfort his nuclear recovery plan and, more generally, his energy strategy for France. It is to follow live with us here.

• The Russian and Belarusian armies began military maneuvers in Belarus this morning for ten days, in the midst of Russian-Western tensions around Ukraine.

• Bad day for the French in Beijing. Alexis Pinturault failed in the alpine combined, falling during the slalom, and the snowboarders failed at the gates of the final.

2:15 p.m. : While waiting for the arrival of the Head of State, the employees wait in the hangar of GE. #nuclear #Macron https://t.co/A1HKi65cvY

2:15 p.m. : In Belfort, General Electric employees await the arrival of Emmanuel Macron in the hangar where he is to speak. The Head of State must detail his vision in terms of energy in this campaign-like trip.

1:39 p.m. : These Arabelle turbines belonged to Alstom until 2015, when they were sold to the American General Electric. This controversial strategic decision took place while a certain Emmanuel Macron was Minister of the Economy. The presidential speech, organized on the day of the formalization of the purchase of these turbines by EDF, wants to be an opportunity for Emmanuel Macron to repair a “original sin” in terms of energy policy, analyzed The world the day before yesterday.

1:38 p.m. : Accompanied by several ministers, Emmanuel Macron must speak at the start of the afternoon at the Arabelle turbine manufacturing site. A place that is anything but innocent: EDF formalized this morning an exclusive agreement for the purchase of part of the nuclear activity of GE Steam Power, including the famous Arabelle steam turbines.

1:13 p.m. : Finally remains Christiane Taubira. “Not favorable” personally nuclear “taking into account radioactive waste”the former minister wishes to consult the French by referendum on this question.