French politicians embroiled in fiery debate over air conditioning

Local France

2 days ago

Recent days have seen rare
red level heatwave alerts issued
for northern and central France - including Paris. The red warning level means that there is a potential danger to life from the high temperatures and on Wednesday the country's environment minister confirmed that
at least two people have died
from the effects of heat, while more than 300 have been treated by emergency services.
But in the political world the battle generating heat is over the use of air conditioning - with Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National party calling for a "grand plan for air conditioning", which the left and the Macronists see only as a back-up solution, advocating the development of other measures such as vegetation or thermal insulation.
Air conditioning remains uncommon in France, especially in private homes - but while some argue that ever-increasing temperatures make it a practical necessity, others point to the environmental damage.
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The rules for installing air conditioning in your French home✎
Le Pen on Monday called for a "
grand plan pour la climatisation
" (major air-conditioning equipment plan), echoed by her right-wing ally Eric Ciotti, who wants to prioritise "schools, hospitals and retirement homes".
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The far-right leader deplored the fact that "public services (are) unable to function for lack of air conditioning, unlike dozens of countries around the world".
'I'm also thinking of all the workers who are suffocating in buildings without air conditioning, because some leaders have decided that the French should suffer from the heat, while they themselves obviously enjoy air-conditioned vehicles and offices,' Le Pen fumed on X.
On Wednesday, right-wing parliamentary group UDR (Union des Droites pour la République) tabled a bill to introduce "compulsory air-conditioning for priority public spaces".
"We urgently need to launch a major national equipment plan for the most vulnerable, through the massive development of cooling and air-conditioning networks. It is our duty (...) to generalise these solutions", asserts Eric Ciotti's group in its text.
But their text did not gain the support of those on the left, or within Macron's centrist party.
"Those who are talking to you about a major air-conditioning plan are acting like they have just discovered the Moon," Environment Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told BFMTV.
"They are incompetents, who have just discovered that in Ehpads [retirement homes], we need air-conditioned rooms. Thank you, that's been compulsory since 2004," she snapped.
"The issue we're dealing with with air conditioning is one of global warming," she added, alongside Prime Minister François Bayrou, on Tuesday.
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"We need to offer air conditioning to vulnerable people or those in high-risk groups, in order to give them a break. On the other hand, we mustn't do it everywhere, otherwise we run the risk of warming up the country and so it's a bad solution."
"The objective must remain to have better insulated buildings", said Gabriel Attal, head of Macron's Renaissance group, told Franco Info.
"There's a tension between health issues on the one hand, making sure the French don't get too hot, and ecological issues on the other, because that air conditioners consume and emit greenhouse gases.'
Despite the side effects of air conditioning - energy consumption, heat produced in the street from air conditioning units - the left also recognises that it is essential for vulnerable or high-risk people.
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In a statement to AFP, Boris Vallaud, the leader of the Parti Socialist MPs, said he was 'in favour of air-conditioning for establishments catering for young people'.
The hard-left La France Insoumise, for its part, unveiled a 'heatwave response' plan on Tuesday, with the aim of 'installing air conditioning in all public hospitals, nursing homes and schools'.
Ecologist leader Marine Tondelier quipped on X about 'Marine Le Pen's ecological programme', which she said was limited to 'buying air conditioners'.
But she also acknowledged that 'hospitals, schools and nursing homes' need to be 'air-conditioned, for both staff and the public', after being tackled by RN MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy, who invited her to 'work in a 35-degree hospital'.
The Green leader argues that "unlike RN, we've done a bit of work on the subject of global warming", and points out that "air conditioning won't be enough".
"It's imperative to make progress on greening cities and thermal insulation of housing," she said.
For Green MP Sandrine Rousseau, air conditioning in certain buildings "seems inevitable. But before that, there's thermal renovation", she added, referring to the need for "a shutter plan" and "a fan plan": "there are a huge number of buildings, public buildings that don't have shutters", which she believes can "insulate against the heat".
What do you think of this debate? Do you agree with the standardisation of air conditioning or would you prefer to see other solutions? Share your views in the comments section below