PARIS (TASS): French President Emmanuel Macron, who is running for a second term, has promised, if elected, to introduce two new ministerial positions in the government of the country. The task of the new ministers will be to “green” the economy and abandon fossil fuels, Macron said on Saturday at a campaign rally in Marseille, which was broadcast by the press service of his headquarters.
“The new prime minister will be directly involved in environmental planning with support,” the French leader stressed.
Since this activity “affects all areas, spending and investment,” Macron said, two new ministers will be allocated to help him – the Minister of Energy Planning and the Minister of Territorial Environmental Planning. The task of the first minister will be “to make France a major power off gas, oil and coal”, which will require “planning an energy strategy that pollutes less and consumes less”, he explained.
“Another minister will be in charge of environmental and territorial planning and, together with local elected officials, will be responsible for organizing the ecological transition in every territory, in our regions, departments and metropolitan areas, down to the cantons. The environmental agenda is an agenda of trust,” Macron said. .
Speaking about the future of energy, the presidential candidate emphasized the development of renewable energy sources, in particular the construction of new solar power plants and the creation of new offshore wind farms with a capacity of 40 GW, but did not abandon existing onshore wind farms. Also, according to him, “hydrogen can gradually replace natural gas,” but it is produced by electrolysis, which will require a lot of electricity and the preservation of nuclear power plants. At the same time, speaking about nuclear energy, he said that he pins great hopes on small modular reactors (SMRs), which “do not depend on the weather and do not produce greenhouse gases.”
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