French TV Star Forces Green Pre-Election Agenda
Date: 08-Nov-06
Country: FRANCE
Author: Francois Murphy
Nicolas Hulot, who became a household name as presenter of a popular television nature programme, proposed an 'ecological pact' with measures like a tax on carbon emissions and creating the job of deputy prime minister for sustainable development.
He hoped candidates for France's top job would take his proposals on board and said he might otherwise run himself in the presidential election next spring.
"I hope very energetically and very strongly that this democratic rendez-vous will put the environmental and climate stakes not at the heart of the campaign but at the summit of the presidential campaign," Hulot told reporters.
His announcement this summer that he might run for president to raise awareness of environment issues was seen as a blow to France's fractious environmentalist parties, at least three of which plan to field candidates in the election.
A CSA poll for the weekly Nouvel Observateur magazine in September put his support at 7 percent. If Hulot ran, the next most popular environmentalist, Greens candidate and former minister Dominique Voynet, would take just one percent.
The environment is an increasingly important political issue as scientists highlight the fragile state of the earth's natural resources and the potential dangers of climate change.
A UN conference opened in Kenya on Monday working to fix long-term rules to fight global warming beyond 2012.
Hulot's proposals include redirecting farm subsidies to "quality" farming, such as organic produce, and slashing French petrol and natural gas consumption to a quarter of its 1990 level by 2050.
Socialist presidential frontrunner Segolene Royal, who would be more likely to win green votes than her conservative rival Nicolas Sarkozy, has come out against a potential Hulot bid to replace President Jacques Chirac.
