Eyeing green vote, Macron vows to exit oil, coal and gas

MARSEILLE • President Emmanuel Macron promised to make France the "first great nation" to stop using oil, coal and gas as energy sources, in a pitch to young and green voters he fears could abstain in Sunday's election run-off.

In a rally in the Mediterranean city of Marseille, which voted massively for left-wing firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round of voting, Mr Macron sought to widen what opinion polls show as a small lead over his far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

Ahead of Sunday's run-off, the presidential race is being fought on the left, with both contenders seeking to attract voters who chose Mr Melenchon in the first round on April 10.

Mr Macron said he would put his next prime minister directly in charge of what he called "green planning", appealing to left-wing voters' nostalgia for post-war Communist-inspired central planning while tapping into 21st century worries about climate change.

"I have heard the anxiety amongst our young people," he told flag-waving supporters at a park overlooking the Old Port in Marseille, France's second-largest city. "This prime minister's mission will be to make France the first great nation to exit gas, oil and coal. It's possible, and we'll do it. Between coal and gas on one hand, and nuclear on the other, I choose nuclear."

The President wants to build six new nuclear reactors and launch studies for another eight, increase solar energy capacity tenfold and build 50 wind farms at sea by 2050. He also wants to insulate 700,000 homes per year to save energy.

Mr Macron, a centrist, also said he wanted to create a national day of nature in May every year. He slammed Ms Le Pen as a "climate sceptic".

Mr Melenchon came third on April 10 with more than 21 per cent of the vote and as both run-off candidates seek to attract his supporters, Ms Le Pen is going for the more working-class, rural part of that electorate by focusing on the cost of living, rising food costs and high petrol prices following the war in Ukraine.

Mr Macron, meanwhile, is trying to woo the more educated, centre-left and urban segments of Mr Melenchon's supporters.

An opinion poll for Ipsos last Saturday showed 33 per cent of Mr Melenchon's voters planned to vote for Mr Macron, 16 per cent for Ms Le Pen and 51 per cent were undecided.

In Marseille, Mr Mehdi Sam, a 25-year-old IT engineer and left-wing voter, said he found Mr Macron's programme on the environment interesting, but added that his father, who voted for Mr Melenchon in the first round, was planning to abstain in the run-off.

"I think that's a mistake. I can understand that not everything suits him (in Macron)... but we forget what's on the other side: a camp that's extreme, with very negative values, and that's not the France I want for tomorrow," he said.

REUTERS