Macron sails into hot water: President is branded an eco-hypocrite for roaring around French Riviera on a gas-guzzling jet-ski after telling citizens to save energy
- President Emmanuel Macron is enjoying what advisers call a ‘studious holiday’ at beachside official residence
- But latest jet ski antics have caused furore among environmentalist MPs, who’ve branded behaviour ‘criminal’
- A member of his own party said they were ‘incredulous’ at photos taken on French Riviera
- It comes three weeks after Macron asked compatriots to ‘prepare’ for shortages and ‘energy austerity’ plans
- Macron has also tweeted about climate change-linked wildfires gripping French forests this afternoon
French president Emmanuel Macron was branded an eco-hypocrite and a ‘criminal’ by environmentalist MPs after he was pictured on a jet ski weeks after calling on his compatriots to conserve energy.
Mr Macron last month begged his nation to take part in an ‘effort of solidarity’ to protect the environment and energy supplies amid the war in Ukraine.
Ministers have also been told to draw up plans for ‘energy austerity’ in an effort to reduce consumption by ten per cent over the next two years.
Macron, 44, said on Bastille Day: ‘We must prepare for a scenario where we have to manage completely without Russian gas.
President Macron was pictured jet skiing at the French Riviera official residence of French presidents since 1968
President Macron has been pictured taking in the hot summer sun at Brégançon between Nice and Marseilles on the French Riviera. Just three weeks ago he urged his compatriots to join an ‘effort of solidarity’ in conserving costly energy – but rode a jet ski nevertheless
‘It is probable. We need a general mobilisation.’
Macron and wife Brigitte, 69, are pictured during the ‘studious visit’ to Bregancon
A keen jet skier who has been pictured on the gas-guzzling watercrafts every summer since 2017, Macron was thought to have turned a corner when he was pictured alone on a canoe last week.
But photos published this week show Mr Macron back to his old habits at Riviera estate Fort de Brégançon, the official retreat of French presidents since 1968.
They have prompted an outcry among members of the National Assembly.
Green MP Sandrine Rousseau said: ‘This confirms the persistent impression that he does not understand climate change.
‘And nowadays, it is criminal not to understand it.’
One of Macron’s own La République En Marche MPs told tabloid Voici he was ‘incredulous’ when he saw the pictures, preferring the canoe image released days beforehand.
Jet skis use between four and ten times the amount of fuel consumed by a family car – up to one litre per mile.
Mr Macron has spent the afternoon tweeting about wildfires raging in France, which have been linked to climate change by scientists as well as the President himself.
Firefighters have been drafted in from Poland, Germany and Greece, with extra help from Romania and Austria expected in the coming days.
Italy has also promised to send aircraft to help extinguish the blazes.
Macron said last month that Mediterranean countries’ recent uptick in deadly forest fires was the ‘consequence of climate change’.
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