Editor’s note: the archive is pleased to welcome Heidi Strebel to our writing team! Heidi is a language and literature teacher, and freelance journalists, living in Paris, France. She’ll be covering the continental beat for us here at GO.

Only left-wing anti-growth idealists believe that, because of human activity, our environment is in disastrous, ever-worsening condition. Such statements are a thing of the past, you might think, vestiges of an ignorant age before the advent of An Inconvenient Truth. But, despite a growing number of bipartisan and non-partisan activist groups, many environmental initiatives across the developed democratic world are still hampered by their partisan affiliations, promoted by the left and pooh-poohed by right.

If the ‘inconvenient truth’ about our environment rings true on just one side of the political spectrum, then yet another country will be putting climate change on the back burner, taking notice only when it blazes uncontrollably in the front yard of people’s lives. Just over a month ago voters elected Nicholas Sarkozy, former leader of the moderate right-wing party the Union for a Popular Movement, to the chief executive office of France. Now with his party’s clear victory in the first round of legislative elections, Sarkozy’s mandate has received further endorsement, leaving the trail open for blazing with a full agenda of promised reforms.

Former president Jacques Chirac established the Union for a Popular Movement when he was running for re-election in 2002. Since we can expect a certain degree of continuity amongst party members, Chirac’s environmental report card provides an idea of what to expect during Sarkozy’s term.

The former president earned a high grade for efforts made during his second term, from 2002-2007, to raise awareness about issues such as global warming and sustainable development. To that end, he made a number of evocative speeches, such as the one at the World Summit on Sustainable Development of 2002 in Johannesburg, which began: “Our house is burning and we’re blind to it. Nature, mutilated and overexploited, can no longer regenerate and we refuse to admit it. Humanity is suffering. It is suffering from poor development, in both the North and the South, and we stand indifferent. The earth and humankind are in danger and we are all responsible.”

The question is, what actions followed upon these poignant, some said ‘melodramatic’, words? A satisfactory answer can be given only after a comprehensive review of data on Chirac’s green or not-so-green exploits, and a comparison with environmental happenings throughout the European Union. But we are not concerned with history here. Rather, we are anxious to see what lies ahead, to ascertain the nature of Sarkozy’s environmental policy, which will play a leading role in shaping European-wide developments.

After signing an environmental pact, apparently committing themselves to action, the 12 candidates for the French presidency all spoke in abstract platitudes on the subject of the environment. Well, not all 12. One presidential hopeful put the environment at the core of her campaign; she was after all the candidate for Les Verts, the French Green Party. During the campaign for the second round of elections, which pitted Sarkozy against left-wing contender Ségolène Royal of the Socialist Party, both candidates repeated their truisms, leading green activists to believe their cause was lost no matter who would win the election.

So it came as somewhat of a surprise when, within a week of taking office, Sarkozy hosted a meeting focused on sustainable development and the environment, a gathering attended by members of his team, including his appointed minister of the environment Alain Juppé, by scientific experts and by representatives of a number of high profile NGOs.

There was a positive consensus about the meeting. Leading French environmental activist, Nicholas Hulot, was pleased that the partisan passions heating the debate in the past had been cooled, allowing the group to set tangible goals with a first step scheduled for implementation next October. But will Sarkozy stick to those goals?

Greens wonder whether the new president will be another talker, an orator and raconteur in the tradition of his predecessor, declaiming his lines from a podium, for audiences of esteemed delegates and world media, but refusing to face reality and act. Despite his vows to take action, on the environment and on all fronts, journalists and bloggers are skeptical of a highly theatrical presidency. Just last week the world witnessed his most recent performance: on the stage of the G8 summit in Germany he could hardly contain his excitement about joining the troupe of leading global actors.

On the other hand, Sarkozy has already taken action in other domains with two bills ready to be presented at the National Assembly this summer. Only time can tell whether he will keep his promises about the environment. Rendezvous next October for the performance and the action.

EuroNews
The French Embassy in the UK
Le Monde

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