The Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, was the guest of 8:30 a.m. franceinfo Thursday, June 2. She answered questions from Marc Fauvelle and Salhia Brakhlia.
Nationalizing EDF “is not excluded”
A nationalization of EDF, faced with multiple difficulties, “is not excluded”said Agnès Pannier-Runacher. “It’s not settled”she then added. During the campaign for the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron had mentioned a renationalisation of EDF within the framework of“a broader reform”. As of April 7, the state owned almost 84% of the company. “There are going to be massive investments in EDF. We are a responsible shareholder, we will be at its side and indeed, we must choose the shareholder structure that is the most solid so that it can achieve its objectives over the long term and with a visibility on the solidity of its financing”recalled the Minister.
Fears of a fuel shortage: “We have strategic storage”
“We have strategic storage” of fuels, reassured the Minister for Energy Transition when she was asked to react about the executive director of the International Energy Agency to the German newspaper Spiegel. “When the holiday season starts in Europe and the United States, the demand for fuel will increase. We could then see shortages, for example of diesel, gasoline or kerosene, especially in Europe”he warned.
But nothing to worry about for the Minister of Energy Transition, even if French strategic storage “are not completely filled”. “We took part of it to manage tensions”added Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who refused to say more so as not to “say a number that would be imprecise”.
An electric car at 100 euros per month for “the French who need it most”
It was a promise from the candidate Macron: a system of “leasing” social, i.e. the possibility of rent an electric car for 100 euros per month. Agnès Pannier-Runacher clarified the outlines. “It is aimed at the French who need it the most”, she first indicated, while saying that the precise criteria remained to be defined. The minister quoted “two categories” of beneficiaries “who seem indisputable: those for whom the vehicle is a working tool” as “liberal nurses” and “those who cannot afford to switch to a clean vehicle because it is too expensive on the market today”.
“Today, the first figures that were made, very quickly, were around 100,000 people” with a “contribution of 500 euros that the State could make in the system”. “These figures are absolutely preliminary. They are the fruit of the campaign’s work, today we must involve all the stakeholders to build a proposal that is the most suitable”she added.