Far-right government could destroy French energy policy

(Montel) Experts say if the National Assembly wins the French election it will have the potential to completely destroy the country’s energy policy, after the party leader said he was open to forming a coalition to win a majority.

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If Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) party, were appointed prime minister after Sunday’s second round of general elections, he would have “full authority” over the country’s energy policy, said Arnaud Gossement, a lawyer specializing in energy, and Thibaud Mulier of the University of Paris-Nanterre, who has a doctorate in public law.

In addition to calling for a moratorium on wind farms, the RN announced it would build 20 new nuclear reactors in France by 2043. Analysts have dismissed the policy as unfeasible, given the time it would take to build new plants.

The party also wants France to effectively withdraw from the European energy market, which experts say would lead to a direct confrontation with the European Commission.

Limited presidential power
Bardella, who initially said he would not agree to govern France without an absolute majority, hinted during a televised debate on Wednesday evening at the possibility of finding allies “if three or four seats are missing”.

That would be a “disaster” because the party could then form a government and change the law, Gossement said. In the case of an RN government, local and regional authorities, the French upper house and the EU would be the only “safeguards” capable of making certain policies more difficult, he added.

If RN wins, President Emmanuel Macron will be forced to share power with a government formed by his opponents, a practice known in France as cohabitation. For the first time, this could include the far right.

In a cohabitation, “the president has extremely limited powers,” Mulier said. “If he doesn’t have the consent of his prime minister, he can’t do much.”

The Montenegrin government could change the regulations to tighten the conditions for issuing permits for the construction of wind farms, without having to change the law, which would be tantamount to banning them, Gossement said.

Or he will simply not implement planned legislation he does not agree with, he added.

Bardella could block the president’s nominations to head state energy company EDF, nuclear safety authority ASN and energy regulator CRE, Mulier said, because the nominations would have to be countersigned by him.

The RN wants to eliminate the French regulator because it says it will play no role if France leaves the EU electricity market.

Left middle move
After the RN won an unprecedented 33% of the vote in the first round of elections, leftists and centrists began to feverishly unite against the far right.

By Thursday, more than 200 candidates had withdrawn from the second round, hoping that this would increase the number of votes cast for non-RN candidates.

If the RN fails to secure an absolute majority in the lower house, Macron could propose the party with the most seats to form a government. If no party wins a clear majority, parties from the traditional left and right could form alliances on a case-by-case basis to pass legislation.

Macron could also appoint a so-called technical government of senior officials and experts to handle current affairs but would have no room to manoeuvre, which Gossement said could buy time for the dissolution of the lower house or the resignation of the president.