Marine Le Pen Pushes Air Conditioning Plan as France’s Heatwave Fuels Political Divide

France’s heatwave has pushed air conditioning into the center of political debate, with temperatures described as exceeding 37 °C for the “canícula” and a thermometer that “no baja de los 23 °C” at night.

“- Published With temperatures soaring, France is being forced to re-think its longstanding reservations about one possible answer to climate change: air-con”

BBC

The dispute sharpened after Marine Le Pen said that in a government of her party there would be a “plan mayor de equipamiento de aire acondicionado,” while Marine Tondelier rejected the idea and argued that those solutions “empeora el clima.”

BBC

La Tercera also tied the argument to how many French households can actually cool their homes, saying only un 5% de las familias tienen un dispositivo de este tipo, citing the Agencia Internacional de la Energía.

The BBC framed the same shift as a forced re-think of France’s reservations, noting that “only 25% of households equipped with an air-con unit” and that French hospitals and schools are also only rarely equipped.

In the background of the policy fight, La Tercera pointed to constraints from heritage rules, saying “cerca de 45 mil edificios” are considered monumentos históricos, complicating deep work on structures or facades.

France 24 put the debate in human terms by describing Paris workers who “don’t have a choice,” including Abdelkrim, who said, “We started work at five o’clock in the morning to try and get some of our tasks done before the temperatures rose even further.”

In the same heatwave coverage, France 24 quoted Safiullah, an Afghan gardener, saying, “But I have no choice. My social circumstances, my professional circumstances, mean I have to keep working, whatever the conditions.”

EL PAÍS

Seoul Economic Daily described Marine Le Pen’s push as a response to casualties, quoting her line that “It is no longer acceptable that people lose their lives to heat waves.”

The BBC described the political realignment on the environmentalist left, quoting Marie Tondelier: “There are places where we just can't do without it now,” as she moved away from what it called “anti-clim dogma.”

La Tercera added that the argument split along left-right lines in the media, with Le Figaro defending air conditioning because “hacer que nuestros ciudadanos suden limita su aprendizaje,” while Libération called it “una aberración ambiental que debe superarse.”

The stakes in France extend beyond comfort to public health and infrastructure, with La Tercera saying there is “amplio consenso” about needing air conditioning in “residencias de ancianos, hospitales y escuelas.”

“‘I don’t have a choice’: Paris workers struggle under historic heatwave As France swelters under a deadly heatwave, thousands of labourers continue to work in the streets and construction sites of Paris with little respite from the stifling heat”

France 24

The BBC described how the debate is now tied to breakdown risk, saying “Thousands of schools have had to shut this week,” and that medical and nursing staff complain of conditions “fast becoming intolerable.”

In political terms, the BBC reported that Marine Le Pen urged a nationwide “plan clim” to equip all schools and hospitals with air-conditioning, while RN spokesman Jean-Philippe Tanguy said it would include “government-backed interest-free loans worth €20bn ($22.7bn; £17.2bn).”

La Tercera warned that the climate argument cuts both ways, quoting Angès Pannier-Runacher calling air conditioning an “adaptación inadecuada” because it “en total causa más calor del que evita.”

At the same time, the BBC said the country’s reservations are being overridden by necessity as “more clim is inevitable,” with the report pointing to the risk that schools and hospitals are “at risk of breakdown.”