Is the Purchasing Power Bill unconstitutional?
More than 60 socialist senators seized the Constitutional Council on Monday concerning three very specific articles of the text.
These are Articles 39, 40 and 41. These fall from 42 euros to "at least 49.5 euros" per megawatt hour (MWh), the regulated price at which EDF is obliged to resell part of its nuclear electricity to its competitors (the Arenh).
An obligation for which the government did not vote, but approved by the deputies.
For the senators, the three articles “infringe in a joint way the law of the European Union, the freedom of enterprise and the constitutional requirements in terms of validation law”.
According to them, “the setting of this new price in no way took into account” the economic conditions of electricity production “”, as required in 2019 by a previous decision of the Constitutional Council.
However, elected officials observe that "the productive capacity is less today" due to "the shutdown of certain reactors".
They also argue that "the European Commission has not approved in writing the increase in the ceiling and the tariff, as required by the law of the European Union".
Finally, they point out that “the obligation to sell at a regulated price”, when “EDF faces historical economic difficulties”, “disproportionately affects its freedom of enterprise (of EDF)”.
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Economy
purchasing power
EDF
electricity
Senate
Socialist Party (PS)
Nuclear
Constitutional Council