Op-ed co-signed by Retailleau on energy in Le Figaro: “populo-Trumpism,” mocks Glucksmann

Four days after its publication on the Le Figaro website, the column co-signed by Bruno Retailleau , in his capacity as president of the Republicans (LR), calling for "rebuilding a nuclear park" but above all for stopping "public subsidies" for wind and photovoltaic power, continues to make waves in political life. And for good reason: with his initiative, the Minister of the Interior has made a large part of Macron's party jump. From the Secretary General of Renaissance, Gabriel Attal , to the Minister of Ecology Agnès Pannier-Runacher - who denounced a "populist" , "dangerous" and "petty politics" approach - via Prime Minister François Bayrou. A heated exchange of words within the government which led the President of the Republic to rein in Bruno Retailleau, urging him not to "caricature everything" and to "get out of his whims".

Now, it is the left, having made ecology one of its main hobbyhorses, which is seizing the controversy. Sunday evening, one of its rising figures in view of the next presidential election took to the floor: Raphaël Glucksmann . While the PS-Place publique MEP leaves less and less doubt about his ambitions - he presented his "vision for France" two weeks ago, a veritable presidential pre-program confirming the break with Jean-Luc Mélenchon - now he is attacking Bruno Retailleau, whom he could well find on the starting line towards the Élysée in a few months.

Also read: Between Raphaël Glucksmann and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the match that comes to the left

A guest on BFMTV on Sunday evening, the essayist violently attacked the Vendée native's "populo-Trumpist" position on energy, in reference to the American president's much-maligned lack of action in the fight against global warming. By "embracing the cause" of the Republican billionaire, he declared, the host of Place Beauvau "is saying that we are stopping in renewable energy while France suffers from underinvestment in renewable energy compared to all our European partners." For Raphaël Glucksmann, Bruno Retailleau above all embodies "this anti-ecological offensive" that "we see everywhere in the West, " denouncing "a backlash , an anti-ecological backlash," which he considers to be a "cultural and political catastrophe" in the face of the climate crisis.

And the Strasbourg representative backed up his reasoning with a comparison between France and Uncle Sam's country. "In the United States, we can go to war against renewables, because you have an abundance of oil and gas - it's bad for the planet - but the Trumpist "drill, drill, drill" program cannot work in Europe," he assured. It was also an opportunity for Raphaël Glucksmann to clarify his party's line on the subject: "We want to strengthen the role of nuclear power, we are not in an anti-nuclear spirit at all. But nuclear power alone is not enough and therefore we must invest massively in renewables." A position that is more broadly part of the "energy revolution" he calls for, considering that "we will not escape our addiction to fossil fuels simply by using nuclear power."