EDF Wins Reprieve as Hollande Cools on Greens Nuclear Pact

Electricite de France SA, Europe’s largest power producer, may get a boost from frontrunner Francois Hollande’s backing off from a nuclear pact with the Greens, who flopped in the first round of the elections.

Socialist candidate Hollande has distanced himself from an accord with the Greens to shut 24 of France’s 58 nuclear reactors by 2025 in light of union support for the industry and the perceived threat to jobs.

The Greens candidate Eva Joly -- with her trademark round green glasses -- got 2.3 percent of the vote in the first round of the French presidential election on April 22. Hollande led with 28.6 percent, while President Nicolas Sarkozy got 27.2 percent. Hollande and Sarkozy will square off on May 6.

“Eva Joly failed to seduce French voters,” said Nicolas Tenzer, the director of CERAP, a political think-tank in Paris. “There won’t be a radical change in French nuclear policy under the Socialists.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/edf-wins-reprieve-as-hollande-cools-on-greens-nuclear-pact-1-.html