<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/02/europe-heatwave-moves-east-row-france-air-conditioning>
"The European heatwave has moved east, threatening record temperatures in
Germany, as a political row broke out in France over air conditioning.
The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen seized a canvassing opportunity
before the 2027 presidential election, announcing she would launch a “grand
plan for air conditioning” for the nation if she won power.
In parliament, Le Pen, an MP for the Pas-de-Calais in northern France, said
“air conditioning saves lives”. She said there was a problem in France if
public services “are unable to function because of a lack of air conditioning,
unlike dozens of countries across the world”.
Éric Ciotti, a Le Pen ally, put down a bill in parliament this week calling for
“obligatory air conditioning” for key public spaces.
France has a low number of public spaces and private homes with air
conditioning compared with neighbouring countries such as Italy. In 2020, 25%
of French homes had air conditioning, compared with 14% in 2016, according to
the national environment agency, Ademe.
The government attacked the far right as ignorant and “incompetent” for
suggesting air conditioning was a solution to the climate crisis. The
environment minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, said air-conditioned spaces in
care homes for elderly people had been obligatory in France for 20 years. She
said that, although vulnerable people should be protected from the heat, air
conditioning “must not be installed everywhere” because it generated a rise in
temperatures outside and was “the wrong answer”.
The Green leader, Marine Tondelier, attacked Le Pen for an environmental policy
limited to “buying air conditioning units”. Tondelier said there had to be
progress made on green spaces in cities and proper insulation of buildings."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
