Rent Control, Nuclear Control

Cécile Duflot has announced a measure to limit permissible rent increases in case an apartment is rented to a new tenant. There is perhaps less than meets the eye in this measure, since the allowable increase is linked to an index of rents that is itself increasing. But the announcement is a useful crowd-pleaser in advance of the legislative elections and pending a promised new law on rents.

Meanwhile, there are rumors that Hollande might oust Henri Proglio from his post as head of the nuclear firm Areva. On the other hand, Hollande's promise to cut French dependence on nuclear-generated electricity from 75% to 50% by 2025 has now been downgraded, according to some advisors, to a mere "aspiration."

So it's interesting that Cécile Duflot, who comes to the Socialist government from the Greens, is the minister who is tasked with announcing the rent-control measure, which will please the left of the Left, while her own Greens, who didn't contribute much to the Hollande victory, are left to wonder what became of their dream of shutting down the French nuclear industry.