Emmanuel Macron promised today, in the event of re-election, to make France “the first great country” to stop using oil, coal and natural gas as energy sources, according to BTA.
At a rally in Marseilles, where left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Melanchon was voted on en masse in the first round of the presidential election, the French president addressed a message to young and green voters who may not vote in the April 24 election. “I listened to the problems of our youth,” Macron told supporters gathered in a park near the so-called Old Port. “Between coal and gas on the one hand and nuclear energy on the other, I choose nuclear,” he said.
The current president wants to build six new nuclear reactors in France and has ordered exploration work to build eight more, increase solar production tenfold and build 50 wind farms by the middle of the century. It is also planned to repair 700,000 houses a year to reduce energy consumption.
At the rally, centrist Macron said he intends to introduce a national nature day, which will be celebrated in May. He called his future rival in the second round of elections, the far-right Marine Le Pen, a “climate skeptic”.
Macron is trying to attract more educated, center-left and urban groups of Melanchon supporters. According to an Ipsos poll released today, 33 percent of those who voted for Melanchon plan to support Macron in the second round, 16 percent for Le Pen and 51 percent undecided.