This first seminar of the second five-year term will bring together the 42 members of the government, including the delegate ministers and secretaries of state who do not usually participate in the Council of Ministers.
This long meeting in the village hall of the Elysée should make it possible to “structure the major projects” for the start of the school year, explained the Head of State last week, citing energy, work, security and the financial and budgetary matters.
But it is the climate challenge that is at the top of the bill, after the historic drought this summer, marked by fires, a water shortage and violent storms.
Before concluding with a report by Elisabeth Borne scheduled for around 6 p.m., the seminar will work in the morning on the presentation of the priorities before examining “the major fiscal and budgetary issues of the five-year term”, “the commitment to full employment ” and “the government’s action in the face of the climate challenge”.
In this context, the government will listen to a presentation by climatologist Valérie Masson-Delmotte, member of the IPCC, invited on the initiative of Emmanuel Macron. By exchanging with this recognized expert, “it is a question of each minister being able to understand the stakes, even if the climate is not directly in the attributions of his ministry”, explains the entourage of the president.
This priority has been hammered home in recent days by the president and then by Elisabeth Borne, who warned the bosses on Monday that it was necessary to “act faster and stronger” in the face of climate change and soaring energy prices, accentuated by the war in Ukraine.
– “Apocalypse” –
“The time is no longer for half measures, the time is no longer for everyone for themselves, the time is for collective responsibility”, she hammered.
The subject will again be on the menu of a Defense Council devoted Friday at the Elysée to the supply of gas and electricity to France.
There will be examined “the scenarios envisaged to prepare for all scenarios this fall and winter”, according to an adviser to the Elysée.
Gas flows from Russia have dried up and the Europeans are preparing for a possible total shutdown, in retaliation for the sanctions imposed on Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine. The giant Gazprom thus announced on Tuesday the total suspension of its gas deliveries to the French group Engie from Thursday. But the latter “has found other sources of supply”, said Elisabeth Borne on TMC.
The situation is also tense on the electricity side, due to the unavailability of part of the nuclear fleet, in particular for corrosion problems.
Elisabeth Borne on Monday urged companies to act to improve their energy sobriety, otherwise they would be the “first affected” by “rationing” measures in the coming months.
On these issues, the government is accused by part of the opposition, including environmentalists, of not doing enough and by another of over-dramatizing the situation.
Emmanuel Macron “always says that the apocalypse is coming tomorrow, and since the apocalypse does not come, he explains to us that it is thanks to him”, denounced the deputy Rassemblement national Laurent Jacobelli on Tuesday on Franceinfo.
Rejecting these criticisms, government spokesman Olivier Véran assured that the decisions will be “collective” and “collegial” and that “transparency will be the rule”.
In addition to the climate and energy, the government is expected on the question of the taxation of “superprofits”, which Elisabeth Borne did not exclude while the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire is not in favor of it, explaining not “knowing” what these exceptional profits were so decried by the left.
