Politique énergétique : les enjeux. La France peut-elle encore définir une politique énergétique nationale ?

In 2003 there has to be a major national debate in France about energy policy prior to the passing of a parliamentary bill which could well mark a radical change in the national and international energy situation. Jean-Marie Chevalier explains here the key issues involved in this debate and in the bill.
The key issues include the opening up of the markets for gas and electricity, which have hitherto been state monopolies in France; the greater degree of competition required under EU directives and the rules of the Single Market; and, at the same time, the pressing need to regulate the market, in particular in order to offset its inevitable tendency to concentrate on the short term and to ensure that medium and long-term needs are taken into consideration (including the need to encourage the use of renewable energy sources), as are also the externalities such as global warming, disposal of nuclear waste, etc.
For the first time, perhaps, in France and in Europe the following issues will be the subject of real debate:
– the advantages and dangers of public monopolies and of market forces if they were to operate without the rules (which ones?) being clearly established;
– the choices between different types of energy, the virtues and drawbacks of each kind, their costs and benefits, the various ways of organizing the production and distribution of energy, the costs and pricing, what they cover and what they leave out, etc.
In this article, Jean-Marie Chevalier sets out these issues extremely clearly and provides us with what we need to know in order to take part in a debate that so far has tended to be the preserve of a few experts.