https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-03/france-s-next-president-said-to-face-3-billion-nuclear-hangover
France’s Next President May Face $3 Billion Nuclear Hangover
by Francois De Beaupuy
February 3, 2017, 12:09 PM EST February 3, 2017, 6:00 PM EST
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’s because the government is as much as 3 billion euros ($3.2
billion) short of the 7.5 billion euros it has said it needs this year
to fix the financial problems of Areva SA and Electricite de France SA,
said two government officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
Hollande will try to find an answer before he leaves office in June, one
of the people said. If he can’t, his successor must decide how to plug
the gap, said the other person.
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. The president must either increase the
national debt or weigh politically sensitive privatizations of holdings
in anything from automakers such as Renault SA to the former phone
monopoly -- a tall order with the first round of presidential elections
just three months away.
“It’s not that simple to raise these funds, either because of market
conditions or for strategic or social reasons,” said Senator Maurice
Vincent, a member of the ruling Socialist Party who sits on the finance
committee. “Half of the holdings are in the depressed energy sector
which needs to be bailed out, and a quarter is in the defense sector
where you have limited divestment leeway, so that doesn’t leave much
wiggle room.”
