August 30, 1999

Greens Say They'll Quit French Government if It Plans New A-Plants

By MARLISE SIMONS

ARIS -- France's Green Party, emboldened by a good showing in the recent elections for the European Parliament, has threatened to pull out of the government coalition if Prime Minister Lionel Jospin approves a new generation of nuclear power stations to replace old ones.

The Greens, who joined Jospin's government in 1997, have always insisted that the nuclear energy issue is at the center of their policy concerns. But even though the Green leader, Dominique Voynet, serves as environment minister, the party says it is being ignored on vital questions inside the government coalition.

The issue at hand is the coming debate on energy policy. Its central question is whether France will reduce its dependence on nuclear energy and turn to other sources. France's 57 nuclear reactors provide 78 percent of the country's energy, one of the highest rates in the world.

But as those plants become obsolete in the coming years, France will face the choice of phasing them out or replacing them with a new type, the so-called European Pressurized Reactors. These reactors, developed in a Franco-German project, are expected to be ready to go into operation around 2010.

The anti-nuclear campaign planned in France may cause some turbulence, but even if the Greens walk out this is not likely to threaten the fate of the government coalition, which includes the Communists and would still retain its majority in Parliament.

As Greens have elsewhere in Europe, those in France have strongly campaigned against nuclear energy, and they say a straight replacement plan is not acceptable. They insist they cannot compromise on this point, which they see as a cornerstone of their agreement with the Socialists before joining the coalition government.

"It's a very fundamental question for us," said Denis Baupin, the Green Party spokesman. "Do we replace the decommissioned plants with new ones or do we start to opt out of nuclear energy, like Belgium and Germany? If the decision is for new plants, we will pull out of the government."

The Greens have also renewed their demand that a national referendum be held on the country's energy strategy and the future of nuclear power. To make sure they will be heard, the Greens say they are planning a series of protests against nuclear power -- matching the campaign of Germany's Greens, who have been pressuring the government of Gerhard Schroeder to phase out nuclear energy use more quickly.

The French environmentalists see the experience of their German counterparts as a warning sign. German Greens have become angry and frustrated as Schroeder's promised effort to shut down nuclear power stations has stalled after pressure from business leaders.

Officials say privately that an informal consensus is forming that France will reduce, though not abolish, its nuclear power stations. They say that if the matter heats up, the government can afford to postpone any key decisions until after the presidential elections of 2002 -- for which the Socialists want to keep the Greens as allies.

But the tension over the issue underscores the rising influence of the Green movement here. After long seeming indifferent to environmental questions, France is now among the European countries where Greens have gained support and moved from the political fringes closer to the center of power.

As their neighbors fared better, France's Greens had remained marginal in political life because of in-fighting and splits over ideology. Their position improved after Mrs. Voynet took charge in 1993. Among other changes, she allied the Greens with the Socialists.

But unexpected success came in the European parliamentary elections in June, when the vote for the Greens surged to close to 10 percent from less than 3 percent in the last European election, in 1994. In the Paris area alone, the Greens scored almost 20 percent. The increases have prompted them to fight for greater influence in future local elections.

In the meantime, to their annoyance, their new popularity has not translated automatically into more political power. Mrs. Voynet and other party members have openly said that their 10 percent vote should have earned them more seats in the Cabinet than the one they now have.

Party leaders also sound clearly frustrated that they have not gained greater say over policy decisions.

Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company