Offshore wind, support for fisheries: Macron wants to ensure "French maritime sovereignty"

Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credits: DAMIEN MEYER / AFP 16:12 p.m., November 28, 2023

Massive expansion of offshore wind power, aid for fishing, "decarbonisation" of ports... Emmanuel Macron swept the floor wide on Tuesday, during the "Assises de l'économie de la mer" in Nantes, linking energy transition and "French maritime sovereignty".

"The sea is at the heart of this issue of sovereignty (...) It's energy, food and infrastructure sovereignty," he said, after having already praised the sea as a place of "power" on Monday at the inauguration of the renovated Maritime Museum in Paris. In two days, the head of state redrew his vision of "French maritime sovereignty" in a country that retains, with its overseas territories, the second largest maritime area in the world after the United States.

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Wind power

During this meeting bringing together fishermen, shipbuilders, shipowners, local elected officials and associations, Emmanuel Macron confirmed his desire to make offshore wind the leading source of renewable energy in France by 2050. "In 2025, we will already launch ten gigawatts, i.e. a dozen wind farms that will come into force in 2030-2035," he announced.

A production of 10 GW is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 10 million households. France, which currently has barely 8 GW of offshore wind farms installed or planned, aims to reach 45 GW by 2050. This 10 GW call for tenders will be launched following a public debate - open until 26 April - aimed at identifying the sites on which around fifty wind farms will be installed. The aim is to establish precise areas of establishment in the Mediterranean as well as in the Atlantic, the English Channel and the North Sea.

Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday forcefully defended his "course", which has "always been the same" and which he promises to hold "until the last centimetre", despite the "storms" and in the face of "defeatism", spinning the maritime metaphor to the foundations of the economy of the sea. "When we listen to the news, we should ask ourselves whether we should despair," said the head of state, speaking again at the end of a long exchange on offshore wind turbines or aid to fishermen in Nantes, deploring that "people" ask themselves "every morning 'does he have a course?'".

"I'll tell you, I happen to be where I am, at the helm, for a little over six and a half years," he replied, visibly stung by the little music that is resurfacing, even in his own camp, about a lack of prospects for the rest of the five-year term. "The course has always been the same: to look at our future without defeatism, to have with lucid optimism a clear idea of the defects and weaknesses of France and to seek together to correct them, but above all to look our future in the face and to tell ourselves that there is no fatality."

Faced with the recurrent controversies over wind power, Emmanuel Macron is banking on this national debate: "We put all the cards on the table, we argue once and for all, in a frank way, and we avoid doing so after five or ten years of projects". He also mentioned "nearly 200 million euros" of investments so that France "is one of the leaders in floating wind turbines" and avoids importing wind turbines from China.

Offshore wind will generate "thousands of jobs" and bring in €2.5 billion in tax revenue "between 2023 and 2035", he said. Of this sum, about 700 million will go to fisheries to modernise an ageing and polluting fleet, which has lost more than a quarter of its vessels in 20 years, he announced. Emmanuel Macron also wants to "modernize the auctions", because today "it costs less to land in Scotland or Ireland and transport the catches by trucks to France".

Transformation of French fisheries

Recalling the launch by next summer of a "real contract for the transformation of French fishing", he mentioned several projects, including the issue of food - 80% of the fish consumed is imported - or the price of fish, which is not remunerative enough to attract young people to the sector. In the short term, French fishermen will benefit from the European extension until 30 June 2024 of the aid of 20 cents per litre of fuel, linked to the surge in energy prices in the context of the war in Ukraine

This measure, which expired on 31 December, will apply up to a ceiling of 335,000 euros per company. "These 20 cents will be combined with the aid we have obtained from several large groups, Total and others, which means that we will have exceptional aid that our fishermen will never have had," the president said. Diesel consumes up to 40% of fishing skippers' turnover.

In addition, France will devote some €800 million from the France 2030 investment programme to projects to "decarbonise" ports or port infrastructure. Emmanuel Macron will also speak on the protection of the sea at COP28 on Friday and Saturday in Dubai, in the run-up to the major United Nations conference on the ocean scheduled for 2025 in Nice. This will be preceded by a "year of the sea" rich in initiatives throughout France (Heritage Days, Biodiversity Lotto, etc.), he promised.