The reforms promoted by the German and Scandinavian greens aim to halve pesticide use and increase the biological share of products to 25% by 2030. It promotes a sustainable agricultural ethos with less feed use. President Macron has other plans. “It was based on a pre-war world in Ukraine and would reduce production by 13%. These goals need to be reconsidered. “In no case can Europe think of producing less,” he said. This 13% loss is disputed. It bypasses the science that shows that industrial agriculture is eroding the soil and is unfounded. But environmental objections are being swept away by the new refrain of European agricultural sovereignty. “As Russia uses food security as a weapon, we must deal with it with a food shield. “A paradigm shift is needed in the way Brussels thinks about agriculture,” said the powerful French farmers’ lobby FNSEA. Brussels is succumbing to the pressures of multinational agrochemicals. It delayed the revised directive on the sustainable use of pesticides and another on ecosystems. It is a parallel story on the energy front. The worst gas crisis in living memory has finally come to an end when Germany could export its anti-nuclear ideology through EU regulations. Berlin could not stop France from classifying nuclear energy as a form of clean energy under the Green Europe Agreement of EUR 1 trillion. This unlocks large investment flows. Putin has restored France’s nuclear industry, which still supplies 70 percent of its electricity. The grid ran into problems earlier this winter, when one-fifth of its 56 reactors shut down for safety reasons and France was forced to set fire to two old coal-fired power plants to avoid power outages. He still has a problem, of course. The first Hinkley-type reactor in Flamanville was again delayed until 2023, 12 years behind schedule and four times over budget. State EDF expects a € 26 billion blow this year, in part because it is forced to provide energy below market prices to help Mr Macron’s re-election. State rescue will be needed, so this consumer subsidy is covert taxation. However, France’s nuclear power has proven to be a strategic reserve in a time of crisis, as Europe seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian hydrocarbons. It’s Germany struggling to explain why it shut down three well-functioning reactors in January and why it plans to shut down the last three later this year, but still insists a gas embargo against Russia is too traumatic to think about.
