Paris (AFP)

Faced with an outcry from environmentalists and the embarrassment of his majority, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe rose to the fringes on Friday to demand a second vote of the Assembly, which the day before had adopted an amendment to the budget favoring the oil tax. webbed.

The Finance Committee of the Assembly validated the identical request of the general rapporteur Joel Giraud (LREM) for a second deliberation.

It will take place at the end of the debates on the Finance Bill for 2020 on Friday night and, according to several Members of the majority, the contentious measure should thus be removed.

This review "will allow the parliamentarians to feed a debate at the height of the stake," justified the entourage of the head of government.

The assembly voted Thursday, with the government's approval, a parliamentary amendment providing for the postponement to 2026 of the exclusion of palm oil from the list of biofuels, which enjoy a tax advantage.

The adoption of this amendment was surprising, even though last year the Assembly voted to exclude palm oil from this favorable tax system. Total had appealed but the Constitutional Council had dismissed the oil group, ruling that Parliament could completely remove this advantage.

Thursday's reversal was immediately denounced by environmental groups as the result of a "shameless lobbying" by Total, which began operating a biofuel refinery at La Mède near Marseille in early July.

The controversial amendment was also co-signed by elected officials Modem, LREM and LR Bouches-du-Rhone. It was not debated at the meeting.

The site, which employs 250 people, plans to process 650,000 tons of oils and fats per year and to source "sustainable and certified" palm oil up to 300,000 tons, according to the oil group.

- "epidermic subject" -

The surprise vote also shocked many MPs, including the majority, as the government made the green transition a priority.

"It is very likely that (the amendment) was given by the government" to these deputies of Bouches-du-Rhone, according to the boss of the group PS Valerie Rabault. This is "twice that the government makes sure that the Parliament is done," after an attempt last year, she denounced in committee.

Without commenting on the substance, the chairman of the Finance Committee Eric Woerth (LR) said he opposed the new deliberation, noting that it was not "a ghost amendment". "The procedure has been respected" so "pay attention" to this "precedent", he warned.

"I have not yet decided my vote, but I would have liked a reasonable debate, not sure that we are getting there because of the epidermic side of the subject," reacted on his side the chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs Roland Lescure (LREM), pointing out the difficult articulation between "economic transition and ecological transition".

Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of Total, pointed out that the public authorities had been incoherent in supporting the transformation of the La Mède plant into a biorefinery and demanding investments of 200 or 300 million euros a few years ago. then to give up "support", according to Mr. Lescure. "This can be understood," he added.

At the end of October, the CEO of Total had pleaded his case by asking "just to be at the same level of competition as our European competitors who, unlike us, enjoy a tax benefit until 2030".

And denouncing an "environmental disaster" caused, according to her, by the extensive production of palm oil: "Every day, thousands of hectares are burned to grow these palms deforesting much of Southeast Asia. East and Africa ".

© 2019 AFP