Assembly: MPs reject the energy programming bill

On Tuesday, June 24, the National Assembly overwhelmingly rejected the Gremillet bill on France's energy trajectory at first reading. The bill was extensively revised by the National Rally (RN) and the right during its examination in the chamber last week.

The episode is a new illustration of the chaotic progress of texts in the Assembly, the divisions within the government coalition and the LR party, and the rapprochement between LR and RN on environmental issues, leading former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to say that an "anti-ecology axis" has formed in the National Assembly.

142 deputies voted for, 377 against. The RN and its ally the UDR faced the united front of the left and groups from the former presidential majority (Together for the Republic, MoDem, Horizons). The latter had announced on Monday that they would vote against the original senatorial text, criticizing in particular the inclusion of a moratorium on wind and solar energy , at the initiative of LR and the RN. LR, for its part, abstained by a large majority.

The text, whose ambition is to outline France's energy future by 2035, proposed in the version released by the upper house in October an ambitious revival of nuclear power and objectives in terms of renewable energies.

But its examination derailed in the Assembly, in committee and then in the chamber. After voting at the start of the debates for the "exit from the rules for setting prices of the European energy market" , the deputies approved the reopening of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant (Haut-Rhin), then the famous moratorium, which sparked the indignation of the entire electricity sector but also of the main agricultural union, the FNSEA. The text will now go for a second reading in the Senate, on July 8 and 9.

But the government could publish the decree on the multi-year energy program (PPE3), awaited by industry players, without waiting for the end of the parliamentary debate, as Industry Minister Marc Ferracci has repeatedly stated.

The explanations of vote spectacularly demonstrated the divergences between the Macronist groups and the Republican Right of Laurent Wauquiez . Marc Ferracci affirmed that he "took note" on behalf of the government of a rejection of the "necessary" text, after the adoption of "industrially absurd" measures and others "devastating for our territories" .

The author of the divisive amendment on the moratorium, LR MP Jérôme Nury, assumed his group's position. "Common sense is (...) to be concerned about the sovereignty of our electricity and its robustness, while keeping an eye on the amount of the electricity bills of the French and businesses," he argued, mocking the "cries of outrage" of his opponents. The left, for its part, castigated a text inspired by the RN, and the "desertion" of Macron's troops which allowed its rewriting.

While Gabriel Attal had castigated on Monday "a new step backwards" for ecology, accusing the LR and RN groups of having supported in recent months "all the major backtracking on the environment" , the ecologist deputy Julie Laernoes virulently attacked the former prime minister. "Today, you announce that you will vote against this text. Good for you, but know that this vote will not absolve you. For three years, you have erased everything that is even remotely related to climate and ecology" , she stormed.

Communist MP Julien Brugerolles pointed out the "conditions" of the debate, with a text put on the agenda late and under pressure from the RN, and not having been preceded by an "impact study" as are bills.

Mobilized as never before on this text, the RN struggled to hide its bitterness, after having racked up victories throughout the past week. "Marine Le Pen's ideological victory is on a par with the confessions of all our defeated opponents gathered here," castigated MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy.

Speaking to the press, he reiterated his hope that parliamentary debates could be completed before the decree is published. Otherwise, the National Rally (RN) is threatening to censure the government, as party leader Jordan Bardella reiterated again on Tuesday.

The rapporteur of the text, Antoine Armand (Renaissance), hoped on X that the debate would find "a legislative outcome" . But "in the meantime, I hope that the government will take its responsibilities and provide a clear and ambitious framework through the PPE" , he added.