French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot resigns live on air

Nicolas Hulot, who quit his post as a popular high-profile environment minister, said that in France, the environment “isn’t being handled like a priority issue.”

“I don’t want to create the illusion that my presence in the government means that we are up to the task on these issues, and so I have decided to leave the government today,” Mr. Hulot told the stunned radio hosts, one of whom asked him whether he was being serious.

Mr. Hulot was fed up with what he considered insufficient progress by his government on issues like climate change and clean energy. He said that he had considered quitting for several months after an “accumulation of disappointments,” but that the decision was precipitated on Monday night when he saw an uninvited lobbyist at a meeting with the president over a relaxation of hunting rules.

He called that episode “symptomatic” of the influence of lobbyists in “circles of power.”

French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot resigns live on air, citing his disappointment with the lack of progress on climate and other environmental goals pic.twitter.com/5d0RyJxIUw

— TRT World (@trtworld) August 29, 2018