# Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices

The Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (French: Office parlementaire d'évaluation des choix scientifiques et technologiques or OPECST) is responsible for informing the French Parliament of the consequences of scientific and technological choices in order to inform its decisions. It collects information, implements study programs and carries out evaluations. It plays the role of interlocutor recognized by the entire scientific community. It has thus established a partnership with the French Academy of Sciences and has a regular contact with other academies and major research organizations. Being the only parliamentary office, it is also called more briefly “Parliamentary Office” or “Office”.

## Statutes

OPECST is created by law n$^o$ 83-609 of July 8, 1983, which provides that the Office must “inform Parliament of the consequences of choices of a scientific and technological nature, in order, in particular, to inform its decisions." This is the only common member in the National Assembly and the Senate.
The OPECST is made up of eighteen deputies and eighteen senators, appointed in such a way as to ensure proportional representation of the political groups. These deputies and senators are appointed by their political group and not co-opted by the members of the Office.
The Office is chaired, alternatively, by a member of one or the other assembly for a period of three years, the first vice-president belonging to the other assembly.
It has a scientific council of 24 "high-level personalities", chosen for their skills in scientific and technological questions.

## Themes addressed

The problems addressed by the OPECST are divided into five main themes:
* The power and energy policy
* The environment and natural risks
* The new technology
* The life sciences (bioethics, health, etc.) and biotechnology (GMOs, synthetic biology, etc.).
* Research and innovation policy and the science & society interface.
Certain files have been renewed for several years in a row, for example those related to nuclear energy and waste management through the regular evaluation of the National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste (PNGMDR).
In recent years, the Office has also been dealing with topical issues through a public hearing open to the press, which allows all the stakeholders concerned to be brought together quickly.
Reports published from January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018 :
| Published in | Name of the report | Report by |
| March 2017 | For a controlled, useful and demystified artificial intelligence(French: Pour une intelligence artificielle maîtrisée, utile et démystifiée) | Claude de Ganay, deputy Dominique Gillot, senator |
| March 2017 | Assessment of the National Radioactive Materials and Waste Management Plan 2016-2018(French: L'évaluation du Plan national de gestion des matières et déchets radioactifs 2016-2018) | Christian Bataille, deputy Christian Namy, senator |
| March 2017 | The safety of nuclear pressure equipment(French: La sûreté des équipements sous pression nucléaire) | Jean-Yves Le Déaut, deputy Bruno Sido, senator |
| March 2017 | The contribution of innovation and scientific and technological assessment to the implementation of COP21 decisions(French: L'apport de l'innovation et de l'évaluation scientifique et technologique à la mise en œuvre des décisions de la COP21) | Jean-Yves Le Déaut, deputy Bruno Sido, senator |
| March 2017 | Assessment of the national energy research strategy(French: L'évaluation de la stratégie nationale de recherche en énergie) | Anne-Yvonne Le Dain, MP |
| March 2017 | The evaluation of the national research strategy “France Europe 2020”(French: L'évaluation de la stratégie nationale de recherche « France Europe 2020 ») | Jean-Yves Le Déaut, deputy Bruno Sido, senator |
| April 2017 | The economic, environmental, health and ethical issues of biotechnologies in the light of new avenues of research(French: Les enjeux économiques, environnementaux, sanitaires et éthiques des biotechnologies à la lumière des nouvelles pistes de recherche) | Jean-Yves Le Déaut, deputy Catherine Procaccia, senator |
| February 2018 | The challenges of smart meters(French: Les enjeux des compteurs communicants) | Cédric Villani, deputy Célia de Lavergne, deputy Gérard Longuet, senator |
| February 2018 | Algorithms at the service of public action: the case of the post-baccalaureate admission portal(French: Les algorithmes au service de l'action publique: le cas du portail admission post-bac) | Cédric Villani, deputy Gérard Longuet, senator |
| June 2018 | Understanding blockchains: operation and challenges of these new technologies(French: Comprendre les blockchains: fonctionnement et enjeux de ces nouvelles technologies) | Valéria Faure-Muntian, deputy Claude de Ganay, deputy Ronan Le Gleut, senator |
| June 2018 | How is electromagnetic hypersensitivity taken into account?(French: Comprendre les blockchains: fonctionnement et enjeux de ces nouvelles technologies) | Cédric Villani, deputy Gérard Longuet, senator |

## Mission on "nuclear security, instead of the industry and its future"

In March 2011, OPECST, then chaired by deputy Claude Birraux, was jointly seized by the Office of the National Assembly and by the committee of economy, sustainable development and spatial planning of the Senate, following the events of Fukushima, of a study on "nuclear security, the place of the nuclear industry and its future".
During its meeting of March 30, 2011, the Office appointed two reporters responsible for this study:
* Christian Bataille (SOC., Nord), deputy.
* Bruno Sido (UMP, Haute-Marne), then first vice-president of the Office, senator.
During its first meeting on April 14, 2011, the parliamentary mission decided on a work program: open hearings to the press, trips to nuclear sites and trips abroad (Germany, Japan). Two unannounced checks, at the Paluel plant and at the Blayais plant, were also carried out.
The proposed long-term strategy would allow an optimal adjustment of each sector, and a gradual reduction, in parallel with the maturation of storage technologies which will make it possible to manage the intermittence of renewable energies without increasing CO$_2$ emissions, the share of nuclear power in French electricity production.
The share of nuclear production would thus drop from around 75% today to “50 or 60% around 2050”, by not replacing one in two end-of-life reactors, in favor of EPR reactors. The decision to shut down a reactor would be left to ASN, whose necessary independence is underlined.

## Controversy

The independence of the OPECST on nuclear-related issues has long been questioned by environmentalists, including Michèle Rivasi, socialist related MP for Drôme from 1998 to 2002 and founder of CRIIRAD, who claimed to have had a "lot of difficulties to be admitted to sit on the Office" and declared in particular: "One cannot imagine to what extent the nuclear lobby permeates the work of the Office."
However, a national radioactive waste management plan to improve the readability and overall effectiveness of the initiatives of the public authorities and the various operators, central proposal of Michèle Rivasi's report relating to the consequences of storage of nuclear waste on health, had been implemented. In fact, following its report, a 2006 law known as the “Birraux law” created a legal framework for the establishment of a National Radioactive Materials and Waste Management Plan (PNGMDR). The first PNGMDR was released in 2007, and the second in 2010.
In 2021, physicist and engineer Sébastien Point denounced the recommendations formulated by the OPECST, then chaired by the mathematician and deputy Cédric Villani, to recognize the use of geobiology pseudoscience (not to be confused with scientific geobiology) to address certain health issues in the agricultural world, despite its nature. The physicist qualified geobiology as a "charlatan network" and "a profitable business which seems to find political relays".

## Composition of the Parliamentary Office

As of October 2021:
| Name | Function | Committees | Parliamentary group | Constituency |
| Cédric Villani | President | Economic affairs | Europe Ecology - The Greens | Essonne 5th |
| Gérard Longuet (Senator) | First Vice-President | Finance | The Republicans | Meuse 1st |
| Didier Baichère | Vice-president | Social affairs | La République En Marche! | Yvelines 1st |
| Jean-Luc Fugit | Vice-president | Sustainable development | La République En Marche! | Rhône 11th |
| Patrick Hetzel | Vice-president | Finance | The Republicans | Bas-Rhin 7th |
| Sonia de La Provôté (Senator) | Vice-President | Culture, education and communication | Centrist Union | Calvados 1st |
| Angèle Préville (Senator) | Vice-President | Regional planning and sustainable development | Socialist, Ecologist and Republican | Lot 1st |
| Catherine Procaccia (Senator) | Vice-President | Social affairs | The Republicans | |
| Julien Aubert | | Finance | The Republicans | Vaucluse 5th |
| Philippe Bolo | | Economic affairs | Democratic Movement and related Democrats | Maine-et-Loire 7th |
| Émilie Cariou | | Finance | Europe Ecology - The Greens | Meuse 2nd |
| Laure Darcos (Senator) | | Culture, education and communication | The Republicans | |
| Annie Delmont-Koropoulis (Senator) | | Social affairs | The Republicans | |
| Jean-François Eliaou | | Laws | La République En Marche! | Hérault 4th |
| Valéria Faure-Muntian | | Finance | La République En Marche! | Loire 3rd |
| Claude de Ganay | | Defense | The Republicans | Loiret 3rd |
| Thomas Gassilloud | | Defense | Agir ensemble | Rhône 10th |
| Anne Genetet | | Foreign affairs | La République En Marche! | |
| André Guiol (Senator) | | Foreign affairs, defense and the Armed Forces | European Democratic and Social Rally | |
| Ludovic Haye (Senator) | | Constitutional laws, legislation, universal suffrage and general administration | La République En Marche! group | |
| Olivier Henno (Senator) | | Social affairs | Centrist Union | |
| Pierre Henriet | | Cultural affairs and education | La République En Marche! | Vendée 5th |
| Antoine Herth | | Economic affairs | Agir ensemble | Bas-Rhin 5th |
| Annick Jacquemet (Senator) | | Social affairs | Centrist Union | |
| Bernard Jomier (Senator) | | Social affairs | Socialist, Ecologist and Republican | |
| Florence Lassarade (Senator) | | Social affairs | The Republicans | |
| Ronan Le Gleut (Senator) | | Foreign affairs, defense and the Armed Forces | The Republicans | |
| Jean-Paul Lecoq | | Foreign affairs | Democratic and Republican Left | Seine-Maritime 8th |
| Gérard Leseul | | Sustainable development | Socialist and allies | Seine-Maritime 5th |
| Pierre Médevielle (Senator) | | Regional planning and sustainable development | The Independents - Republic and Territories | |
| Michelle Meunier (Senator) | | Social affairs | Socialist, Ecologist and Republican | |
| Pierre Ouzoulias (Senator) | | Culture, education and communication | Communist, Republican, Citizen and Ecologist | |
| Stéphane Piednoir (Senator) | | Culture, education and communication | The Republicans | |
| Loïc Prud'homme | | Sustainable development | La France Insoumise | Gironde 3rd |
| Bruno Sido (Senator) | | Foreign affairs, defense and the Armed Forces | The Republicans | |
| Huguette Tiegna | | Economic affairs | La République En Marche! | Lot 2nd |