Retailleau and LR stand firm against wind and solar power: "They are moving closer to the caricatured positions of the RN"

Energy policy continues to divide the parties supporting François Bayrou 's government: Bruno Retailleau called on Wednesday for an end to "public subsidies" for wind and photovoltaic power, drawing criticism from Gabriel Attal, who denounced "an incomprehensible historical and scientific misinterpretation."

"Our priority must be to rebuild a nuclear fleet by reconstituting French industrial expertise, in order to avoid the cliff-edge effect linked to the aging of current power plants," writes the president of the Les Républicains (LR) party, also Minister of the Interior, in an article for Le Figaro .

On the other hand, he believes that "wind and photovoltaic power only contribute to the French energy mix with intermittency, which is costly to manage." "There is therefore no reason to continue financing them through public subsidies," asserts Bruno Retailleau in this text co-signed by LR vice-presidents François-Xavier Bellamy and Julien Aubert.

In response to this article, the leader of the presidential Renaissance party, Gabriel Attal, deplored on X "a return of a very worrying form of anti-science climate skepticism", "while we are experiencing an unprecedented heatwave".

"Solutions to stop burning oil and gas (...) exist. In the short term, while we restart nuclear power for tomorrow, these solutions are renewable energies. And some want to stop their funding, or even stop them altogether? This historical and scientific contradiction is incomprehensible," said the former Prime Minister.

The LR president responded that he had "no lessons to take" from Gabriel Attal. "There is a form of competition within the central bloc. We are trying to overplay our differences, to push each other, probably for the 2027 elections," the Vendéen believes.

"The State must play its part since nuclear power is a sovereign energy. These are heavy investments that the private sector cannot support," Julien Aubert stressed on RMC this Thursday.

The Minister of Industry and Energy, Marc Ferracci, also responded to Bruno Retailleau. "Believing that escaping dependence on fossil fuels and the countries that produce them can be achieved by abandoning renewable energy and laying off workers in their sectors is a pipe dream—and a position that is completely opposed to the government's line," he stated.

This idea is causing tension in the rest of the central bloc. The Energy Minister warns: no longer supporting renewable energy means destroying jobs. Renaissance MP Jean-René Cazeneuve also rejects this LR proposal. "They have moved closer to the very caricatured position of the National Rally. I regret it. We cannot completely dismiss renewable energy," he said on RMC . The MP insists: these renewable energies could prove very useful in the event of a nuclear power plant malfunction.