Guest of the major Rendez-vous Europe 1/Cnews/Les Echos, the Minister of Ecological Transition considers the fact of increasing taxes on electricity “counterproductive”. A measure planned by the government in its new Budget.
Another 1,500 amendments planned in the parliamentary agenda and the forecasts for the 2025 Budget are already close to 40 billion euros in additional taxes. “It is impossible to bear economically and these savings will hit the middle classes and those who work,” declared this Sunday, November 3, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Ecological Transition, Energy, Climate and Disaster Prevention. risks, on the set of the Grand Rendez-Vous Europe 1-Cnews-Les Echos.
And in this 2025 finance bill, the government of Michel Barnier announced a change which directly affects his ministry: an increase in the tax on final consumption of electricity (TICPE) is planned. At the same time, the government spokesperson also announced that no increase in gas taxes would be on the menu.
“It is better to support electricity than gas,” defended Agnès Pannier-Runacher while declaring that she had “chosen her side.” Stating that she is “unfavorable to increasing taxes on energy in general”, the minister argues that electricity in France “creates jobs”, in addition to being “sovereign and carbon-free”.
Taxing electricity more than gas would therefore be “economically and ecologically counterproductive”, while France’s dependencies on gas from Russia, the United States or the Middle East have been put into effect. light at the dawn of the health crisis.
Sovereignty issue over electric cars
Another problematic competition situation: Chinese electric cars which have flooded the European market and which are subject to new taxation approved by Member States at the beginning of October. “We must stop being naive: if the automotive sector [européen] does not adapt, it will disappear,” she predicts.
On the question of increasing the ecological penalty for petrol and diesel cars in France, the minister spoke of the challenge of “supporting a transformation with thousands of jobs at stake”. The latter speaks of the rapid development of the industry around the electric car and refers to the jobs created in the new establishments of battery factories in the north of France.
“China is also accelerating on renewable technologies because it has understood that there is an economic issue,” she adds, while defending the need to support investments in French nuclear power. The minister also criticized an insufficient budget allocated to the ecological transition.
Finally, Agnès Pannier-Runacher is in favor of maintaining the heat fund, which helps medium-sized towns to invest in renewable energies. On the other hand, cuts could be made concerning MaPrimeRénov’, assistance for renovation work which has already been the subject of several adjustments.
