French victor’s nuclear chalice
Whoever succeeds Francois Hollande may be forced to sell the state’s holdings in a number of companies to prop up France’s nuclear industry
Paris — Whoever succeeds Francois Hollande as France’s president may find one of their first tasks in office will be selling off some of the nation’s prized assets to prop up the state’s nuclear industry. That was because the government was as much as €3bn short of the €7.5bn it has said it needs this year to fix the financial problems of Areva and Electricite de France (EDF), said two government officials with direct knowledge of the matter. Hollande would try to find an answer before he left office in June, one of the people said. If he was unable to do so, his successor would have to decide how to plug the gap, the other said. France is preparing to rescue its nuclear industry after EDF was weakened by falling European power prices and Areva lost billions on a long-delayed project in Finland. National Debt The president must either increase the national debt or weigh politically sensitive privatisations of holdings in anything from car makers, such as Renault, to the former phone...
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