"This is the first time I've voted for a presidential [election] and the choice offered to me seems totally disconnected from current issues," says Marie Chureau, climate activist interviewed by France 24. The young woman 20 years old was among the students gathered Thursday, April 14 in front of the Sorbonne, in Paris, in support of the occupation of the faculty.
This blocking and that of other establishments in France, such as in Nancy and Reims, aimed to denounce an “election which stole the social, ecological and progressive aspirations of youth”, according to a video posted on Twitter.
"Sorbonne occupied against Macron, Le Pen and their world", wrote the students on a banner.
During the night of Thursday to Friday, the university was evacuated.
We speak masked to protect ourselves from administrative repression and far-right violence.
Besieged by the police in a Sorbonne that we wanted to be open to everyone, we present to you here the reasons for our mobilization.
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT pic.twitter.com/TOiS1hHK7x
— The Occupied Sorbonne Against Le Pen - Macron (@SorbonneOccupee) April 14, 2022
“Ecology was a major concern of this action,” says Marie Chureau, who is also a Franco-German law student in Nanterre.
A member of the Youth for Climate movement, she is one of those voters committed to the climate, disappointed by Emmanuel Macron's five-year term and opposed to Marine Le Pen's program.
A fringe of the population in which William Aucant recognizes himself, one of the 150 members of the Citizen's Climate Convention.
"I am not satisfied with the policy pursued by Emmanuel Macron for the past five years and above all, personally, in relation to the measures of the Citizens' Convention", he laments to France 24.
"Raise the Cursors"
This assembly of citizens responsible for proposing measures to accelerate the environmental transition of France, formulated 149 measures aimed at respecting the Paris agreement.
That is for France, a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to their 1990 level. According to the government, 87 proposals have been implemented within the framework of various legal texts (particularly the Climate Law), 59 are in the process of being implemented and three have been discarded.
But many members of the Citizens' Convention believe that the government has not kept its promise to transmit "unfiltered" the proposals to Parliament.
Having become an EELV regional councilor for Pays de la Loire, William Aucant considers that the proposals have been translated into legislation "to a fairly low degree".
"Now it's about raising the sliders," he suggests.
On the subject of energy renovation, for example, William Aucant welcomes the ban on heated terraces, a measure resulting from the Citizens' Convention, but which is not sufficient.
"Emmanuel Macron must be much more convincing about the overall thermal renovation of housing," he asks.
According to an evaluation of the system by the Court of Auditors, 86% of the files submitted as part of the MaPrimeRénov' system, which helps owners and condominiums to renovate housing, concern only one energy efficiency gesture. , for example, changing the boiler, insulating the attic or installing new windows.
"However, what works is a major renovation of buildings which takes housing from an energy-intensive category to low consumption", notes William Aucant, who is also in the running for the legislative elections in Loire-Atlantique.
Asked by France 24, Léa Falco is also not convinced by the results of Emmanuel Macron.
Member of the collective For an ecological awakening, she denounces "what the macronists have promised and what they have not done", such as the application of all the measures of the Citizens' Convention, and is indignant against "the advances which they claim to have done but which hide regressions".
She cites, for example, France's opposition to the EU-Mercosur treaty for environmental reasons, while at the same time Emmanuel Macron supports CETA, a free trade agreement with Canada.
After the "useful vote", the default vote
"But like a lot of environmental activists, I think I will vote for Emmanuel Macron, reluctantly. We know that a Le Pen five-year term would be a five-year term lost for democracy and that there would be no hope in terms of environmental", affirms Léa Falco, who chose Sunday the "useful vote, of left".
A strategy that cost the environmental candidate Yannick Jadot dearly, who won 4.6% of the vote in the first round even though the environment appears in the polls among the main concerns of the French.
William Aucant will also vote "against Marine Le Pen" because "under Le Pen it would be worse" for the planet.
"We must invest in renewables and Marine Le Pen does not offer it at all", remarks the local elected official, who participated in Yannick Jadot's campaign.
The candidate of the National Rally proposes "a moratorium on wind and solar", with "for wind, the progressive dismantling of sites" and the suspension of subsidies dedicated to wind and solar.
It prefers to bet on hydroelectricity, geothermal energy, nuclear power and hydrogen.
"The energy issue is, in my opinion, the biggest problem of Marine Le Pen's environmental program", denounces Léa Falco.
"There are plenty of forecasts and in particular the RTE scenarios (Electricity energy network, the manager of the electricity transmission network in France) which show that by 2050, we will not be able to do without wind energy. And the RN does not rely on forecasts that demonstrate the opposite. It is demago to say 'wind turbines are not aesthetic, we remove them'", continues the activist, also an environment columnist on the RMC radio.
I asked @louis_aliot how the RN intends to lead the electrification of the country, when they want to get out of wind energy.
The lack of response is telling.
Energy is an essential subject that cannot be approximated.
A promise requires an encryption.
https://t.co/4CPzuUdh8J
– Léa Falco (@lea_falko) February 22, 2022
The IPCC experts noted in their latest report published on April 4, a week before the first round, the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) in favor of a "deployment of sources of 'low-emission energy'.
"The report underlines that by 2050, to limit global warming to 1.5°C, electricity will have to represent around 50% of the total energy supply", can we read on the site website of the French Nuclear Energy Company.
Among the electrical systems of tomorrow will be wind and solar, according to the IPCC.
Marine Le Pen's program amounts to "ignoring the climate crisis and what should be done", launches Hugo Viel, climate activist, interviewed by France 24. The energy and environment engineer cites in particular the proposal of Marine Le Pen to lower the VAT on petroleum products and her sovereignist position vis-à-vis the Paris agreement.
"For me, both programs are bad, but one is worse than the other," adds Hugo Viel.
Seeking to present himself as a pragmatic candidate on environmental issues, Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he wanted to "enrich" his program in ecological matters.
He plans to take up the ideas of "ecological planning" of Jean-Luc Mélenchon or the proposals of Yannick Jadot in terms of "circular economy".
"Good for him!" Says William Aucant, for whom Emmanuel Macron's climate policy is not projected enough in the long term.
“The climate crisis does not extend over one or two terms. We need commitments that are strong and that persist over time,” he says.
According to the latest IPCC report, humanity must reverse the curve of greenhouse gas emissions in the next three years if it wants to preserve a "liveable" world.
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