Two months of the presidential election, the head of state chose the GENERAL ELECTRIC plant in Belfort to announce the extension of existing nuclear power plants and the construction of at least six EPR 2. Far from the promises of His first campaign.
by
The Turbine Arabelle, 300-tonneut monster, is illuminated like a collection by light spots. It serves as a background in the speech of Emmanuel Macron, whose voice resonates as in a cathedral under the huge sheet metal roof of the Belfort General Electric (GE) factory. Posters “France 2030 is here that it happens!” Frame the head of state. His image advisor, Arnaud Jolens, white cap on the head, monitors the details of the scenography, which he himself imagined. The tenant of the Elysée is not here in the campaign for the presidential election of April 10 and 24. Not officially, at least. On this Thursday, February 10, he came to announce the “renaissance” of the French nuclear, to boast the national “sovereignty” and to rent the merits of “planning”.
Clearly, display the ambition to “resume control of our energy destiny”, in a semantic loan at the slogan of the supporters of Brexit. Everything in front of the former mayor of the city, Jean-Pierre Chez, Herald of the Left Sovereignism, Ravi. And what are the tail heads.
Two months of the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron came to turn the page of past commitments and unfortunate episodes. In particular that of the sale, in 2015, of the energy branch of the French Alstom to the American General Electric, that he supervised as Deputy Secretary General of the Elysee, first, then as the Minister of the Economy . According to the current Mayor (Republicans, LR) of Belfort, Damien Meslot, 1,300 jobs have been lost from the site, which produces the turbines of nuclear power plants.
As soon as he arrived, the head of state meets employees to purge the case. A “carnage”, loose one of them. “At the time, I was a collaborator when it was done”, minimizes Emmanuel Macron, who evokes “the choice of a private company”. “It was not the state at the head of Alstom,” he adds, arguing that his “predecessor [in Bercy], the ministers of the time, knew it very late.” The evil has been repaired since EDF announced, Thursday morning, have found an agreement to buy back some of the GE Steam Power, which produces the Arabelle turbines. “We sometimes make a trial a little unfair,” defends Jean-Pierre Chennement, who thanked Emmanuel Macron, in a well-prowed role play, to have “wet his shirt for the recovery of Arabelle”.
In turn, Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of EDF, takes the microphone and distribute the congratulations. Since the Fukushima accident, Japan, in 2011, “it has been the winter of nuclear”. “There, the first spring come back,” he rejoices. Especially since Eminuel Macron promised, in November 2021, to revive the construction of reactors in France. The whole sector is impatient to have concrete to put themselves under the tooth. But the head of state first wants to take a detour before specifying his plan.
You have 59.07% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.