France’s newly appointed environment minister, Francois de Rugy, said on 5 September that new target dates for adjustments to the national energy mix would be announced in late October. His predecessor, Nicolas Hulot, resigned in part because of the government's slow progress in reducing dependence on nuclear power. A first draft of that programme had been expected during the summer, followed by a fuller version at the end of the year. "There'll be a multi-year programme for energy and we will be in a position to present that at the end of October," de Rugy told France Inter radio. "The issue is obviously not a simple one." Current legislation law calls on France to cut reliance on nuclear energy from 75% now to 50% by 2025. Hulot had only reluctantly agreed to President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to postpone the target date to 2035.
