French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged Thursday to defend and bolster France's nuclear sector, and warned that an opposition-backed proposal to wind down nuclear power production would shut factories and damage the economy.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged Thursday to defend and bolster
France's nuclear sector, and warned that an opposition-backed proposal to wind
down nuclear power production would shut factories and damage the economy.
Sarkozy's strong backing for a sector that provides France with 75% of its
electricity needs came after the Socialist Party and the Greens agreed to cut
nuclear's share in France's energy mix to 50% by 2025, if their candidate
Francois Hollande were to win May's presidential election.
"Quitting this energy or cutting authoritatively its share in our energy
mix without a substitute with the same characteristics would produce
considerable damages to France's industry," Sarkozy said in a speech
marking the third anniversary of the Fonds Strategique d'Investissement, or
FSI, a sovereign wealth fund he set up to support strategic sectors of the
French economy.
"The price of power is one of the rare advantages over our
competitors," Sarkozy said.
The debate on nuclear power has gained traction in
France
,
which hosts 58 reactors and is the world's second-largest nuclear operator
behind the
U.S.
,
after the Japanese Fukushima incident in March led
Germany
to
shut its nuclear plants and
Italy
to
cancel plans to revive the industry after a quarter-century moratorium.
For decades, the nuclear industry has enjoyed bipartisan support in
France
,
which embraced atomic energy in the 1970s in order to reduce its exposure to
oil and as a way to strengthen its independence. Sarkozy was adamant that
shouldn't change, and pledged part of the EUR20 billion FSI to strengthen
suppliers of equipment to the nuclear industry in order to better structure the
sector and encourage exports.
"All French political parties have backed this unprecedented national
effort," he said. "It's not politics, it's not the right, it's not
the left, it's not the opposition, it's not the majority: it's
France
."
Sarkozy also said the FSI, which has bought shares in companies ranging from
shipyards Chantiers de l'Atlantique to toy-maker Meccano, should strengthen its
support of the aeronautical and medical equipment industries. A regional
network will be created to foster investment in small- and medium-sized
businesses, and an initial EUR350 million will be given to regions and other
public institution to invest in SMEs.
Still, Sarkozy cautioned that there is only so much the FSI can do to stem the
hemorrhage of industrial jobs.
"It's not the job of the state to support businesses that are no longer
viable," he said, blaming the half-million shrinkage in the headcount of
industry jobs between 2000-2007 on the 35-hour working week, which has "permanently
sapped" the country's competitiveness. Instead, policy should be directed
at protecting industry from the ravages of global financial markets, and by
hostile foreign takeovers.
"The state must mitigate the terrible shortsightedness of markets that
destroy value, jobs and skills in an irremediable way," Sarkozy said. "I
won't let big French companies fall prey to predatory buyout offers."
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01