Debate on the future of the Green pact reignites deep divisions

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Debating in a packed amphitheatre at the University of Angers in western France, the six main French candidates for European elections outlined their positions on the European Green Deal. 

This was the third debate between the heads of the lists for the European elections on June 9 - and the first to focus entirely on the climate crisis.

During the debate, all the candidates claimed their party was invested in fighting climate change.

But both the far-right and conservative parties have opposed head-on the Green Deal – surfing on the wave of farmers’ protests that have gripped France and other European countries. 

Valérie Hayer, head of President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party, defended the Green Deal and proposed a European Blue Pact.

"We need to protect the oceans, we need to ban deep sea mining, and fight against plastic pollution. This is my proposal that I will carry through,” said the MEP. 

She posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the party wanted to move away fossil fuels through renewables and nuclear power and protect oceans through a proposed 'blue pact'. 

Left-wing candidate and MEP Raphael Glucksmann called for a European ecological protectionism and openly voiced his support for the development of of French nuclear power to achieve a net-carbon continent by 2050 – the main goal of the Green Deal signed in 2019.

François-Xavier Bellamy, the right-wing candidate representing Les Républicains also showed to be a strong supporter of nuclear energy, but unlike his left counterparts claimed that technological research and the development of low-carbon fuels are the key to reducing emissions rather than reducing consumption.

Another left-wing candidate representing La France Insoumise (LFI), Manon Aubry, said she is ready to lax certain luxury goods such as yachts to fund greener means of transport.

The Green MEP Marie Toussaint chastised the rest of the candidates for blocking any progress when it comes to the Green Deal objectives. 

“What you heard during this debate are candidates claiming climate change is important for them and that they feel it is important to continue fighting for the environment. Don't be fooled. Today, the Green Deal is under threat. Threatened because most of the parties here are undermining any advancement for the flight against climate change and social justice."

The only absentee: Jordan Bardella, the head of the far-right Rassemblement National party, currently leading the polls.

Instead, he preferred to send Jean-Philippe Tanguy, vice-president of his party, who is not even a candidate for the European elections. Tanguy defended the move: "You can’t run an election campaign by only meeting (climate) experts. Jordan Bardella is out in the field. I know the other candidates don't go out to meet voters, whereas we do.”

“I'm not surprised he never shows up for debates, because when it's not his preferred subject, like immigration, he stammers and stutters. He changes his mind all the time. It symbolises what the far-right is today,” said Marie Toussaint, Green MEP, told Euronews.

Each candidate only had two and half minutes to give their view on four different topics such as energy sovereignty and phasing out diesel cars, which limited most confrontation between the politicians. The result: a tame discussion rather than (the expected) heated debate.