It is therefore under the yoke of two Damocles swords, the health risk of a resumption of the epidemic and the specter of the economic and social crisis, that Emmanuel Macron addresses the last part of his quinquennium. What forget a third, climatic emergency, this one?
“You can't separate the fights. We must beware of sinking into the ease of putting on the glasses we had to read the world before the crisis. It is with this idea in mind that the president says that we must reinvent ourselves, advance government spokesman Sibeth Ndiaye. We cannot answer ecological and economic issues separately, as they influence each other. "
It prevents. “The temptation in this kind of period is to look for short-term answers. However, ecology is often a medium or long term project, ”worries a member of the executive. LREM deputies, demanding a reorientation in this direction, decided not to wait and to cast off: the creation of the ninth group in the Assembly, called "Ecology, democracy and solidarity" is expected on Tuesday. Already, environmental associations, according to which the period of confinement served as a pretext to "unravel" environmental regulations or revive controversial projects, are alarmed.
“This is a question that arises and a fear. But it would be difficult to let go of this theme today, we can see that it is an expectation of the French, ”notes a ministerial adviser, who has in mind the good scores of EELV in the last elections, European and municipal. This would be "a political reading error because by changing the way of life due to a virus, people said to themselves that it was possible", judges an executive of the majority thinking about the next presidential election.
Ministers work to show green paw
If Emmanuel Macron posed, at the beginning of his five-year term, as a defender of the fight against climate change on the international scene, he did not manage to print this mark in France. His record, he knows, is disputed. In the life before the Covid, while he was preparing arms for 2022, the head of state had told the deputies of the majority: the end of his mandate would be marked by two themes, the sovereign and ecology. It was in February… a century ago.
What about, at a time when "he is looking for the way to reinvent himself", as a relative says? “People have realized that it is important, that we must move to a more sustainable development model. The president integrated it ", continues the same.
The ministers, asked to work on “rebound or recovery” proposals, are working to show off. "The subject of ecology is present everywhere everywhere," says a member of the government. No one has forgotten that the yellow vests crisis exploded on a spark called the carbon tax. "It must not be punitive, but inciting," recommends a Walker.
Political Newsletter
Every day, political news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
The recovery plan, expected in late August, early September, or sooner if conditions allow, will be an opportunity for the government to put something concrete on the table. And for the French to judge on paper. A follower of the president speaks of it as "an opportunity to accelerate".
"Reconciling recovery and ecology"
In concert, Bercy is assured of working to "reconcile recovery and ecology", considering it possible "to go to a country which is enriching and which is respectful of the environment". Mentioned, the sectors of thermal renovation of buildings, mobility, tourism or the possibility of conditioning aid to businesses.
The closing of the Citizen's Climate Convention will also sound an hour of truth. Its members will definitively adopt their proposals on June 19, 20 and 21. How the president takes it will be a marker. "It will not remain a dead letter," promises Sibeth Ndiaye. But there too, some people are worried. What if the events lead to being less pretentious than expected? "This is the risk, it should not be denied," admits a minister.
In hollow: the eternal question of means, while every day the bill increases and new emergencies emerge. “We need serious public investment capacity. Will we get it? This is the big question, ”observes a good expert on the file, who awaits“ the acts ”. As many. A relative of the president agrees: “The difficulty is that we have spent the time of indignation. People no longer expect speeches. Here, something concrete is needed. "