Friday November 30, 07:11 PM
French unions decry sale of 3.0 percent state stake in EDF
PARIS (AFP) - Several French energy unions on Friday denounced a plan by President Nicolas Sarkozy for the state to sell three percent of its stake in electricity monopoly EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) to raise funds for higher education.
"The state and Nicholas Sarkozy in particular are trying to resolve their money problems by using one enterprise ... as a cash cow," charged Philippe Pesteil of the CFDT union.
Sarkozy told a French television interviewer on Thursday night: "We are going to sell three percent of a great French company, EDF, to create a five-billion (euro) (7.3-billion-dollar) investment plan for our universities, to give them better campuses ... for students to have a decent place to work."
The CGT union said in statement that the capital of EDF "must not be treated as a reserve fund" for the government budget.
The planned sale in effect "prepares the ground for future moves by which public control of the energy sector is to be abandoned" at a time when "major investment (in energy) is needed to ensure France's energy supply and to fight against climate change," the CGT argued.
The FO union also condemned the sale of what it called "the family jewels," describing the university financing plan as "merely a pretext."
CFTC-Energie said it was "deplorable" that Sarkozy had announced the sale without preliminary consultations with the key parties.
The French state owns 87 percent of Electricite de France, which is worth more than 156 billion euros (230 billion dollars) by market capitalisation. The government wants to reduce its holding to 70 percent in EDF, in which employees have a symbolic 2.0 percent stake.
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