Hollande sacks ecology minister
Batho had criticised 7% cut in budget but sacking comes at critical time for France’s energy policy
PRESIDENT Hollande has sacked Ecology and Energy Minister Delphine Batho after she criticised the 7% cut in her department’s budget as “bad news”.
The sacking, the second at the Ecology Ministry and the third since Hollande took power, came just weeks after the president warned ministers that the government had “one common line” and the next one to step out of line would face the sack.
However, the decision was immediately criticised by Ecology Party Euro-MP Daniel Cohn-Bendit who said Hollande had made an error and pointed to the president’s failure to act against Industrial Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg who had previously criticised the government.
Batho had criticised the plan by Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici to cut government spending for the first time since 1958 with €14billion less spending as he tries to cut the budget deficit to 3.9% of gross domestic product this year.
The sacking and replacement by Gers MP Philippe Martin, a member of the National Assembly sustainable development committee and opponent of shale gas and genetically modified crops, comes at a delicate time for France’s energy ministry as it was preparing a new energy law for early 2014 to honour Hollande’s pledge to cut its dependence on nuclear power from 75% to 50%.
It also comes after Montebourg made a strong call – backed by business leaders and a parliamentary report – for a rethink on the prospects of exploiting possible shale gas resources in France. Hydraulic fracturing, the only known method for extracting the gas, was banned by the Sarkozy government in 2011 as it posed a risk to the country’s vital aquifers.
Energy giant EDF wants to extend the life of France’s 58 nuclear power plants – although yesterday it had to shut down one of the two reactors at the country’s oldest plant, at Fessenheim in Alsace, due to a water pump failure. Just days ago the Flamanville nuclear reactor site in Normandy was hit by a high-pressure steam leak, although there was no effect on production.
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