In mid-August, Julien Bayou expressed his desire to introduce a bill this fall to ban private jets in an interview for Liberation. A month and a half later, the Head of Government Elisabeth Borne concluded this Thursday afternoon the presentation of the energy sobriety plan for next winter and even beyond. Following the press conference, she spoke about her position on this means of transport:
Olivier Véran had ruled out the ban on private planes
Over the summer, Julien Bayou explained that he wanted to address the “whim of the richest who are also the biggest polluters.” “It is a question of justice. How to ask the population to make efforts, how to imagine a just transition, if the richest are completely exempt from everything? To nail the jets to the ground is to return them to the ground to reason”, he estimated. the chosen one. He cited in particular the report of the NGO Transport and Environment that explained in May 2021 that in “just one hour, a single private jet can emit two tons of CO2” where a Frenchman emitted an average of 11 tons in 2018 according to a document. of the Ministry of Ecology.
The government spokesman, Olivier Véran, reacted quickly showing understanding for this antagonistic position against private planes. “The plane has a symbolic value, and the symbols are important, he stressed. The French should not have the feeling that they are always the same people who are asked to make efforts. (…) They may feel offended because some of your fellow citizens are taking private jets to do chip jumping.”
But he had countered this speech by highlighting the economic activity generated by these flights. “Private jets are often a commercial transport, with great reactivity: it creates jobs, it is not about banning that, Olivier Véran insisted. The private use of private jets is a very small part of the use of the jet, which is in itself a very small part of the use of the plane, which represents a very small part of the emissions. It is not going to cool the planet.
Source: BFM TV
