Sarkozy Strikes Balanced Approach to French Shale

Less than a year before the presidential contest and six months before holding its first open primary, Les Republicains, France’s right wing opposition party – led by former president Nicolas Sarkozy who is likely to run again though he has yet to formally announce his candidacy – laid out a series of policy proposals on energy on May 3 aimed to shape the party platform heading into the general election no matter who wins the primary. 

Sarkozy’s party which led the legislative effort to ban fracking on 2011 is now in favour of shale gas exploration through alternative techniques to fracking safe for the environment, according to the document released after a convention on environment and energy.

“We want to allow some researches on clean and alternatives techniques to the hydraulic fracturing which would give an opportunity to exploit our potential resources. Shale gas exploitation and sales would provide  €100bn to the French state (2012 report) in 30 years while adding 225 000 jobs to the economy”, the document says. 

Meanwhile, the party denies any intention to overturn the fracking ban, saying: “If the hydraulic fracturing represents a risk of contamination of soil and water tables, we should keep the ban in place in the spirit of the 2011 law." 

The political debate on whether France should explore its potential resources has been revived over the past months as a French court decided to re-award a permit once granted to Total but repealed after the passing of the fracking ban in 2011. The decision sparked an outcry on the left. A massive anti-fracking rally drew up to 15,000 protesters and Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the French company would discard the permit. 

A 'smooth transition' through gas 

The right will also embrace gas as a transition source of energy between coal and renewables. Les Republicains set a goal of “0 coal” in the country energy mix in 5 years. As of today, coal represents just 3% of the energy production.

“Gas and renewable energies are not contradictory. Gas can ensure a smooth transition. Gas turbines are perfect allies of intermittent energies like solar and wind energies. Contrary to the nuclear and the coal, gas turbines ensure an efficient mix. Moreover, producing gas locally prevent its transportation and useless carbon emissions that go with it.” The document says the money saved will be re-invested in renewables. 

Those proposals and energy policies the next French president may enact, if conservatives win the election in 2017, are not very surprising. They have been outlined by Sarkozy in an interview he gave to Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) on May 1. 

The former French president has made the pledge to amend the constitution to suppress the precautionary principle and replaced it with a responsibility principle. 

“We cannot be the only country in the world that does not exploit, search, innovate. On behalf of precautionary, we usually avoid ourselves from doing anything. Responsibility requires that we study first, then we make the decisions that are needed. We must be the party which believes in progress, science and development,” Sarkozy told the JDD. 

Regarding shale gas, the leader of Les Republicains thinks research should not be stopped. “I am against the use of the hydraulic fracturing technique but it does not mean I accept the decision made by French president Francois Hollande to deny any exploration permits”, Sarkozy adds. 

'Study first, then decide' attitude unifies the right 

Those comments echo what Luc Chatel, president of the National Council of Les Republicains said back in February during his acceptance speech. “Les Republicains must be the party that chooses the innovation principle over the precautionary principle – the party of shale gas, GMOs, biotechnologies. It’s my firm conviction".  Chatel double downed on April 27 telling France Info, a news radio, that “banning systematically any research was absurd.”

Both the rhetoric and the proposals are good news for the gas industry but if Nicolas Sarkozy does not win the primary – which is a possible outcome according to most recent polls - there is no guarantee his or her challengers will take up the party proposals in their own campaign platform.

But Alain Juppe, the mayor of Bordeaux and former prime minister under Jacques Chirac, who is leading in the polls, is also in favour of shale gas explorations. He proposed a year ago the creation of an “experimental centre to have a better and accurate understanding of what is at stake. Instead of refusing everything, I think this centre would be useful under strict control necessary precautions so we can select techniques with an acceptable impact on the environment”.

Kevin Bonnaud