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Public Resignation of French Environment Minister
It appears that the French environment minister has become so disgusted with his government's inaction that he has publicly resigned.
PARIS (Reuters) - French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot resigned on Tuesday in frustration over sluggish progress on climate goals and nuclear energy policy, dealing a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron's already tarnished green credentials.
Macron Minister Nicolas Hulot Quits on Live Radio
Global Engineering News reports:
Hulot said in the interview France is "persisting" in a nuclear industry that's a "useless madness, economically and technically".
"I don't want to lie to myself anymore", said Hulot.
The TV personality was lured into government past year as President Emmanuel Macron sought a high-profile figurehead for the environmental agenda.
In his radio interview, however, Hulot emphasized the inadequacy of "mini-steps" on climate change by France and other nations, voicing hope that his exit might "provoke deep introspection in our society about the reality of the world".
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 02 2018, @02:43PM (3 children)
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/08/06/0146206 [soylentnews.org]
Considering the timing and how he only entered office in May 2017, it's pretty clear we're not being told the full story. My guess is that the infrastructure is in extremely poor state and no one is willing to fund the repairs and he doesn't want to be there when something awful happens. So, he's making it into a huge media circus to force accountability WHILE covering his own ass by stepping out of office. Classic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 02 2018, @03:52PM (2 children)
You're not a cynic.
I used to work for a small ISP that had literally no backup plan for PRI accesses when they moved office; naturally things went wrong. Hosting was unaffected, but dialup was largely geborken. The management's response was less than timely. I was left in the position of being paid to tell customers "we're working on it" but anyone who pressed would learn that the true answer was "nobody knows when this is going to be fixed." I was on the technical committee whose recommendations were ignored. I quit, telling them even I couldn't use their service.
Was I "covering my own ass"?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 02 2018, @05:49PM (1 child)
You weren't in a position to change anything. He is a minister: He could have went every day on national television and talk about the issue and bring it on the agenda. He could have used his political credit and get raise some support in the ranks of government. He could have even gone to the opposition and leak them some evidence so they'll attack the government over its incompetence.
Sure, it would have cost him his political career. But what's the point of running to government if you're just another professional bureaucrat who seeks nothing but a sit in government?
In the end, he chose to be a professional politician instead of a professional minister. And the last thing anyone needs is more politicians.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Sunday September 02 2018, @07:50PM
Maybe he did.
It did.