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The first meeting of the Council of ecological defense took place this Thursday, May 23 at the Elysee. A device whose implementation had been announced by Emmanuel Macron at the end of the great debate. It aims to coordinate government action against climate change, but this first edition was not fertile in ads.
As its name suggests, the Ecological Defense Council has the same format as the traditional Defense Council. Except that this time, it is not a matter of deciding military, but environmental issues, keeping the idea of bringing together the key ministers concerned for a decision supposed to be more effective.
Thermal renovation of dwellings
The agenda for this first version included biodiversity, climate and green finance, but these two hours of meetings did not give birth to shattering announcements. By the voice of François de Rugy, his Minister for the ecological transition, the government has decided to increase by one billion euros loans for the thermal renovation of social housing, and 3 billion euros those granted to local communities. François de Rugy also announced the strengthening of protected natural areas and the creation of new ones. Twenty of them will be affected by 2022 with the ultimate goal of covering 30% of the territory against 20% today.
Finally, and it was expected, the last important announcement concerns the project of the Montagne d'Or , in French Guyana, a gigantic open pit mine that is attracting much criticism, including from Edouard Philippe. For the Prime Minister, the current project is unsatisfactory: " It is incompatible with the requirements of preservation of biodiversity that we have set ourselves. The mining code will be reviewed to incorporate these new requirements. On the other hand, to know the nature and extent of this evolution, and if it affects the project of the "Golden Mountain", it will be necessary to wait: the project will be presented in December in the Council of Ministers.
Ecological opportunism?
Venus provide after-sales service at a press conference once the Ecological Defense Council is over, Edouard Philippe and François de Rugy have mainly focused on defending the government's action since the beginning of the five-year period. They have taken long minutes to enumerate the various measures adopted over the last two years: the climate plan, the biodiversity protection plan, the multiannual energy plan ... all these projects do not necessarily convince the associations and NGOs, but the executive has been keen to recall, with a clear message: " we are acting against the climate crisis ".
This balance, in a way, does not happen at any time: this Council of ecological defense has indeed held three days of the European elections. A temporal proximity that has cringed some teeth on the side of environmental candidates, who see it as an electoral maneuver. Yannick Jadot, the head of the Europe-Ecology-Les Verts list, even finds " the string a little big ". He continues: " the government does not want to save the climate, but recover the green vote! "