FRENCH PRIME minister François Fillon has signalled that his government will abandon plans to introduce a domestic carbon tax, as the fallout continues from the ruling party’s heavy defeat in regional elections.
As public sector workers mounted a nationwide strike yesterday, however, the government insisted it would proceed with contested reform of the pensions system.
President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the new carbon tax as a vital weapon against global warming when it was first approved by parliament last year. But it was struck out by France’s highest court just 48 hours before it was due to come into effect, on the basis that there were too many loopholes for industrial polluters.
Mr Sarkozy had maintained that a revised version of the tax would be tabled by early July, but now appears to have bowed to opposition within his ruling centre-right UMP bloc – badly shaken by the left’s sweeping win in Sunday’s regional elections – to abandon the law.
Speaking in parliament, Mr Fillon said sustainable development policies could not be allowed to put French industry at risk and hinted that France would not move on a carbon tax unless it was part of an EU-wide initiative.
“We have to amplify measures that help reinforce the competitiveness of our economy,” he said. “In that spirit, I would like to indicate that the decisions we are going to take regarding sustainable development have to be better co-ordinated with all European countries so as not to widen our gap in competitiveness with our neighbour Germany.”
The demise of the tax has not satisfied everyone in the UMP. Chantal Jouanno, the junior environment minister, broke with normal cabinet practice and condemned the move. "I despair at this retreat. I despair that environmental scepticism has won out," she was quoted as saying in Le Monde.
Mr Sarkozy moved quickly on Monday to quell rising discontent in the ranks of his own party after the election loss, sacking his labour minister and promoting three new ministers known to be close to his internal rivals.
As the effects of the elections continued to be felt in the corridors of power, so too on the streets, with a nationwide strike by public sector workers disrupting trains, schools and postal services across the country yesterday. Protest marches took place in several cities, while in the capital only half of trains ran on some suburban lines and a third of high-speed TGV trains were cancelled.
Unions say the government hasn’t offered satisfactory plans on jobs, salaries, purchasing power and working conditions, and hoped to assert their strength as negotiations are due to begin over the government’s plans to overhaul the pension system – a centrepiece of Mr Sarkozy’s agenda for the second half of his term.
However, Mr Fillon told the National Assembly yesterday the loss of 21 out of 22 regions by the UMP would not precipitate a shift in national policies. “Sunday’s vote hasn’t in the least altered the challenges facing France,” he said. “If your question is ‘Will we make a U-turn?’ my response is ‘No’.”