French elections: The left’s ecological programme repackages existing EU measures

The left and far-left programme for the French parliamentary elections gives pride of place to ecological measures, but many of these goals are based on already-existing European measures.

The New Popular Front’s (NPF) programme includes more than 20 ecological, climate and environmental measures. Most of these already have an equivalent EU-level policy, which requires or supports action at the national level. But supporters of the NPF programme say they call for France to go further than the EU.

For example, the leftists aim to put in place a “climate plan” to achieve carbon neutrality in France by 2050. The EU has already embarked on this path, with a legally binding commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

This is “an insufficient first step; we need to go further,” Clémence Guetté, outgoing member of the French parliament and programme coordinator for La France insoumise (LFI, The left), part of the NFP, told Euractiv.

She said the fight against climate change must be accompanied by more social measures. This is why the NFP is planning a “European climate and social emergency pact”.

The EU already has a Social Climate Fund, which aims to ease the cost of future carbon pricing on transport (fuel) and heating. To take advantage of this, member states will have to submit ‘social climate plans’ to the European Commission.

However the NPF will “strengthen France’s social climate plan”, Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, newly-elected French socialist MEP, told Euractiv, while Guetté said they would “act immediately, as scouts, even if it means disobeying the budgetary rules [the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact] if necessary”

International trade

The NFP also wants to “introduce ecological and social protectionism at Europe’s borders”. The aim is to apply the same rules on imported goods and services as those applied to internal market products.

European legislators have adopted a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which will tax seven carbon-intense products entering the EU from abroad (aluminium, steel, iron, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen, electricity).

The tariffs aim to ensure that import prices reflect the carbon emitted during their production, as is already the case with domestically made products.

“The CBAM is just the beginning. It needs to be implemented and extended to other materials,” Pellerin-Carlin said.

The key issue is to introduce so-called ‘mirror clauses’, i.e. requiring that imports from the EU’s economic partners match EU standards, argued the MEP.

Such clauses already exist in some agreements, such as with New Zealand, or the Mercosur deal, which is still under negotiation. But they are rare, difficult to monitor and suffer from a lack of consensus among the member states.

Industry

The NFP proposes launching an “industrial reconstruction plan” to “put an end to France’s and Europe’s dependence” in strategic production areas.

The EU has adopted its Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), which sets domestic production targets for a number of low-carbon technologies.

According to Pellerin-Carlin, “this is not enough.”

“We have no investment plan for the climate that is equal to the challenge, as the United States has with the IRA”, he warned, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides subsidies for the manufacture of clean technologies on US soil.

For now, Europe has the ‘Strategic Technology European Platform’, which coordinates existing EU funds but is under-resourced, according to the MEP.

Households

On the housing front, the left-wing bloc wants to ensure “complete” insulation of homes and “speed up” the renovation of public buildings.

At the EU level, there is the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

“It’s a useful point of support, but it’s essentially limited to a vague series of objectives”, said  Clémence Guetté. “Only a legal requirement for complete renovation by 2050 will enable us to meet our targets,” she added.

Water and biodiversity

The NPF programme also proposes to “defend agricultural and natural areas, double and improve the protection of marine protected areas”.

Concerning marine areas, the Commission has presented an action plan aimed at protecting 30% of the EU’s seas by 2030, compared with the current 12%.

More broadly, with its recently passed Nature Restoration Law, the EU aims to restore at least 20% of European land and maritime areas by 2030, and all ecosystems needing restoration by 2050.

Due diligence

As far as companies are concerned, the NPF wants to “condition” available aid on compliance with environmental, social, and societal criteria.

At the European level, the directive on due diligence (CSDD) has similar objectives, but for a limited range of companies (those with more than 1,000 employees), by imposing financial penalties for violations of human and social rights in their value chain.

*Laurent Geslin contributed to this article.

[Edited by Donagh Cagney/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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