In a carefully crafted speech announcing the second phase of action of his government, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said it was time to "face reality" about energy.
"We have entered the post oil era. I want to draw all the consequences and give true impetus to energy savings and renewable energies," he told a press conference on 1 September.
The transport sector will be the most affected with an increase in the car registration tax ("carte grise") as of 1 January 2006 that will be entirely dependent on a given vehicle's pollution levels. The tax will affect the most polluting vehicles, or 8% of the total. This will be the equivalent of doubling the 'carte grise' for this 8%. "For other cars, the measure will stay neutral," Villepin said.
In addition, Villepin announced the launch of a 100 million euro R&D programme to supply French people within a five year deadline with a family car consuming less than 3.5 litres per 100 kilometres. Finally, a 5.75% objective was decided for biofuels consumption as part of total fuel consumption "as soon as 2008". This is two years earlier than what is required under the EU biofuels directive.
