Paris (France) (AFP) – MPs approved on Thursday a bill aimed at relaunching investment in French dams, by clearing a dispute with the European Commission, even if the concessions made in Brussels divide the political class.

Published on: 05/02/2026 - 20:07

The text is supported by the Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure and deputies ranging from the Communists to the LR. The RN abstained and LFI voted against. It will now have to go to the Senate.

While hydroelectricity represented the second source of electricity production after nuclear power in 2024, essential investments for these works are currently prevented due to legal insecurities.

At issue are two procedures from the European Commission against France, one from 2015 relating to EDF's dominant position in hydroelectricity and the second, from 2019, relating to the absence of re-competition for expired concessions.

The text by Marie-Noëlle Battistel (PS) and Philippe Bolo (MoDem) thus plans to change the legal regime of dams. Most are currently operated under a concession regime: the works belong to the State and operation is entrusted to an operator.

As the oldest contracts gradually expire, the concessions should normally be put back into competition, which France refuses.

An agreement in principle has been reached with Brussels: the end of pre-litigation against a reform of the French legal regime. The text therefore proposes moving from a concession regime to that of “authorization”.

The State will have to buy back the concessions and compensate the operators, who will then be responsible for paying an occupation fee for 70 years.

But another measure in the text strongly divides the hemicycle: an opening of the hydroelectricity market to make the agreement compatible with European competition requirements.

The proposed law thus sets a target of at least 40% of hydroelectric capacity which should be auctioned, with a volume set for EDF at 6 gigawatts for the first ten years.

“You are organizing the despoliation of our hydroelectricity”, criticized Lionel Tivoli (RN), when Matthias Tavel (LFI) denounced a “Stockholm syndrome of the good student of the EU”.

Several opposition deputies are therefore concerned about the resurgence of an "Arenh bis", in reference to a mechanism for regulating the prices of nuclear electricity which ended in 2025 and which required EDF to sell part of its nuclear electricity at a discounted price.

Mr. Tavel notably denounced a rewriting in the hemicycle of part of the text which should allow EDF not to sell at a loss.

“Selling at a loss happens in real life,” replied the minister, believing however that the system would have “nothing to do with Arenh”. “We are not going to force EDF to sell at a loss all the time.”

© 2026 AFP

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