17 years after partial privatization, the French energy group Électricité de France (EDF) is not only facing full nationalization, but also a change of boss.
Finance and Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire announced on Thursday that Jean-Bernard Lévy, President-General since 2014, will vacate his post in March 2023.
Niklas Zaboji
Economic correspondent in Paris
Follow I follow
It was agreed "to start immediately the process of replacing Jean-Bernard Lévy at the helm of EDF, as the company will be tackling major projects in the coming months," it said in a statement.
Lévy will then be 68 years old.
EDF, around 84 percent state-owned, is an important hub of French energy policy.
The group is not only the operator of all nuclear power plants in the country, but also takes care of the construction of new reactors as well as wind and solar parks and holds the majority in the electricity grid operator RTE.
The future Director General of EDF will also be responsible for bringing the "nuclear renaissance" announced by President Emmanuel Macron to life: at least six new reactors are to be built and the regular service life of the existing plants is to be extended to more than 50 years.
No easy task awaits Lévy's successor.
The power plant park is getting on in years, twelve of the 56 French nuclear reactors are currently shut down due to suspected or proven technical problems.
At the same time, the budget for the most recent new reactors was exceeded.
EDF has a debt of more than 40 billion euros.
The stock has lost nearly 90 percent of its value over the past 15 years.
Capital injections have kept EDF afloat in recent years.