President Macron proposes new “small size” plants, with better waste management, within an investment calendar until 2030
Although French President Emmanuel Macron has not yet officially announced his candidacy for the presidential elections in April 2022, he is already thinking of 2030. Under that horizon, this Tuesday he presented a massive investment program worth 30,000 million euros in the next five years whose objective will be to reindustrialize France to once again be “a great nation of innovation”.
Macron wants to revitalize the ‘made in France’ (made in France) and that the national economy is more technological, digital and ecological. It is committed to this by green hydrogen, electric and hybrid cars and decarbonisation, but also highlights its interest in the reactivation of nuclear energy with the construction of new mini-plants. The French territory is the largest producer of this energy in the EU. 77% of its electricity consumption comes from the 58 reactors in operation, which also supply countries such as Spain.
The ‘France 2030’ plan, the name of the investment program announced by Macron, will allow “to resume the path of independence from France and the European Union” and “respond to the great challenges of our time,” the president said in a speech. at the Elysee Palace in front of company heads, students, ministers, investors, researchers and owners of startups.
“The strategy for 2030 should lead us to invest 30,000 million euros to respond to the growth deficit,” the president announced after explaining that the covid-19 pandemic has shown us our “vulnerability” and dependence on foreigners. “18 months ago, we were all subjected to the lack of masks,” recalled the head of government. “If it had depended on what France produces – and I say this to those tempted by nationalism – we would still not have a vaccine, because the country still does not produce messenger RNA vaccine,” he pointed out.
Reconcile ‘staruos’ and industry
Faced with fierce competition from Chinese and American companies, the president hinted that he is not willing to sit idly by and opted to “reconcile this France of startups and this France of industry” and invest more in key sectors to achieve “a productive French and European independence.” Macron wants, with this massive investment program, “that we recover a virtuous cycle that consists of innovating, producing, exporting and thus financing our social model.”
While other countries – such as Germany – want to abandon nuclear energy, the French leader believes that it is necessary to “reinvent” this sector, considering that it still has a long future ahead of it. The president announced the construction of “small, innovative nuclear reactors with better waste management” by 2030. Precisely, the authorities in February were in favor of extending the useful life of the 32 oldest atomic plants in the country by ten years, which suggests that one of the Executive’s intentions would be to replace some of them with the most modern in the world. within a decade.
The president is convinced that France can become a leader in green hydrogen in the coming years, “thanks to the nuclear sector that allows us to consume enough electricity to carry out electrolysis.” Right now, the country is the lowest emitter of carbon dioxide in the European Union. With the horizon set to 2030, Macron wants, among other things, to decarbonise the industry, produce the first low-carbon aircraft and manufacture two million electric and hybrid vehicles.
Another objective of the plan is to accelerate the agricultural and agri-food revolution. He also promised that they will produce 20 biomedicines against cancer and chronic age-related diseases and create innovative medical devices. But Macron also wants to remain at the forefront of industrial and cultural production, that his country continues to be part of the “new space adventure” and invest more in the seabed.
The opposition, critical
Six months before the presidential elections, the opposition described the plan as electoralist. «New day of macronista propaganda on an investment plan. The truth? The sums were already planned. New: nuclear power plants everywhere. Who decides: Macron alone ”, judged Jean-Luc Melénchon, president of the La Francia Insoumise party.
“Months from the end of his mandate, he commits the money of the French to restore his electoral coat of arms with promises that only oblige his successor. It’s the ‘whatever it takes, I want to get re-elected’, “criticized the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
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