Le Pen opens her campaign with an oil policy reversal
Marine Le Pen has formally entered the 2027 presidential race. Her promise to reopen hydrocarbon exploration gives the campaign an immediate test of energy sovereignty against climate law.
Marine Le Pen formally launched her 2027 presidential campaign in Orléans on Sunday 25 October, presenting herself as the candidate of order, sovereignty and national renewal. Reuters reported that she promised tighter border controls, automatic removal of foreign offenders, lower business taxes and support for industry and artificial intelligence. The speech placed her response to France's recent unrest at the centre of the campaign.
One policy announcement gave the address a specific environmental consequence. The Associated Press reported that Le Pen promised to repeal the 2017 law that stopped France from issuing new hydrocarbon exploration permits and reinforced the ban on shale-gas extraction. She argued that domestic prospecting should resume if she wins in May 2027.
A campaign launch built around authority
The campaign is not starting from a neutral position. Reuters described Le Pen as the current first-round frontrunner, while also noting that she is appealing her conviction over the misuse of European Parliament funds. Polling is a snapshot rather than a forecast, and the vote remains roughly six months away, but her launch means proposals can now be tested as parts of a governing programme rather than general opposition messages.
Euronews reported that the security section of the speech promised certainty that cases would be brought and sentences carried out. It also recorded her call for a national and European border system and her resistance to military engagements she does not define as French interests. Those positions connect domestic order, immigration and sovereignty into the campaign's main frame.
The oil pledge is legally concrete
The hydrocarbon proposal is more precise than a slogan. France's Law No. 2017-1839 bars new exploration permits and provides for the end of oil and gas production by 2040, with limited protections for existing rights. Repealing it would therefore require legislation and would reopen questions about permits, overseas territories, environmental assessment and France's climate commitments.
The scale of any new French production is not established by the campaign pledge. Exploration rights do not guarantee commercially recoverable reserves, lower prices or rapid supply. The immediate importance is political: Le Pen is defining energy independence through potential domestic fossil-fuel production, while the existing law defines the transition through ending that production.
Source note: Reuters and Euronews supplied independent reporting on the campaign launch and its wider programme. The Associated Press reported the hydrocarbon pledge. The Climate Change Laws database was consulted for the scope and legal structure of the 2017 law. The photograph is an archive image from March 2026 and does not depict the Orléans rally.
Sources & context
Reporting and reference material used for this article. Context sources do not independently confirm every news claim.
- Reuters: Le Pen formally launches her presidential bid ↗Independent reporting: campaign speech, polling context and policy themes, 25 October
- Associated Press: pledge to revive oil prospecting ↗Independent reporting: proposed repeal of the 2017 hydrocarbon law, 25 October
- Euronews: Orléans campaign launch ↗Independent reporting: security, borders and foreign-policy pledges, 25 October
- Climate Change Laws: Law No. 2017-1839 ↗Legal context: existing exploration ban and 2040 production end date
Written for WHIF from the linked material. This article does not claim on-the-ground reporting. Our editorial standards.