In response to this, Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, committed to comply with the stern interim note issued by the Court.
Insufficient, imprecise, difficult to understand, and even incoherent: the Court of Auditors published on Friday a severe interim note, dated July 28, strangling the government's policy on the energy renovation of buildings. In response, the Prime Minister promised to comply with the Court of Auditors' recommendations, which were harshly criticized in the note. She emphasizes in this letter, which AFP has got a copy of, that “The Court finds insufficient coherence in the formulation” of public programs for the energy refurbishment of buildings.
According to the Court of Auditors, the basic concept of refurbishment is still “imprecise,” and the “frequent modifications” of the sector have impacted the “readability” of the devices that have been put into place. She cites, in particular, “inconsistencies across administrations, such as town planning standards,” which are the cause of certain decentralized agencies of the Ministry of Culture or certain municipal authorities “prohibiting energy improvement work in city centers or around historic sites.” The Court laments that strong and effective administration is absent as well as an efficient public support service over the entirety of the national territory in the energy renovation policy for structures.
Read also: Climate: why the energy renovation of housing is such a central issue in France.
In her written response to the court, which was made available online by the court, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne highlights the tightening of the management that has been carried out since January with the launch of a public housing renovation service called France Renov'. According to the prime minister, this service provides “neutral and independent information, advice, and support.” According to Elisabeth Borne, “1,800 France Renov advisers are spread out throughout more than 500 Advice Spaces to welcome our fellow citizens throughout the entire national territory to answer their questions and support them with their initiatives.”
Borne anticipates a “simplified route” by the end of the year 2022.
According to the Court of Auditors' assessment, this newly formed body “has not yet made it feasible to identify the functions and missions of the various structures.” The Prime Minister acknowledges in her response that “efforts must yet be made to continue simplifying the accumulation of aid between them, and to solidify the coherence of the system as a whole around investment aid focused on the most efficient works and favoring the most modest households.”
It assures that his government will “achieve an even simpler, more readable system in 2024, which further encourages the performance of efficient and comprehensive energy renovations” and it promises the deployment of a “simplified route by the end of 2022, making it possible to combine the benefit of MaPrimeRénov' and the zero-rate eco-loan.”
The previous day, on October 17, the Defender of Rights issued a statement condemning “serious dysfunctions in the public aid mechanism” for energy renovation MaPrimeRénov', which was established in 2020 and is managed by the National Housing Agency. This exchange comes as a result of that statement (Anah). This gadget is intended to assist French citizens with low incomes in renovating their homes to lower their overall energy consumption as well as their CO2 emissions; nevertheless, the online procedures are plagued by several errors, which have been reported by the Defender of Rights.
