French MEPs debate the future of the European Green Deal in Angers

Debating in a packed amphitheatre at the University of Angers in western France, the six main French candidates for European elections outlined their positions on the European Green Deal. 

Valérie Hayer, head of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, defended the Green Deal, saying “We need to protect the oceans, we need to ban deep sea mining, and fight against plastic pollution. This is my proposal.”

She posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the party wanted to move away fossil fuels through renewables and nuclear power and protect oceans through a proposed ‘blue pact’. 

She was criticised by the Green MEP Marie Toussant, who maintained that other parties were blocking the Deal’s progress. Toussant said, “Today, the Green Deal is under threat. Threatened because most of the parties here are undermining any advancement for the flight against climate change and social justice.”

The candidate for the far-right Rassemblement National party did not attend the event, which was organised by an environmental think tank. 

All parties present claimed they were invested in fighting climate change however conservative and right-leaning parties have opposed conditions laid out in the European Unions Green Deal.

The bloc’s Green Deal, which aims to make Europe the first climate neutral continent by 2050, has been the subject of farmer’s protests across Europe.