Monsieur le Député Claude BIRRAUX tiendra une permanence en mairie le lundi 7 Décembre dans les communes des cantons d'ANNEMASSE NORD et SUD ci-après mentionnées  :

• 5ème édition du Salon Naturellia - Le Dauphiné Libéré (29/11/09)
• Inauguration de la rénovation du clocher et de l'eglise de PRESILLY
  • Le Dauphiné Libéré (25/11/09) 
  • Le Messager (26/11/09)
• Claude BIRRAUX a reçu les élus de sa circonscription à l'occasion du Congrès des Maires à PARIS - Le Dauphiné Libéré (25/11/09)
• Inauguration du 21ème Salon d'Automne
• Le Dauphiné Libéré ( 22/11/09)
•  Le Messager (26/11/09) 
• Inauguration du salon Equid'Espaces à la ROCHE SUR FORON - Le Dauphiné Libéré (14/11/09) 
• Inauguration de la route de LOEX à BONNE - Le Dauphiné Libéré (14/11/09)
• Celébration du 11 novembre à REIGNIER-ESERY - Le Dauphiné Libéré (12/11/09)
• Célébration de la Sainte Patronne des gendarmes à NEYDENS - Le Dauphiné Libéré (07/11/09)

Portrait vidéo de Claude Birraux (18 novembre 2009) sur Dailymotion

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb6woh_portrait-de-claude-birraux_news

The FUTURE is a fundamental issue for T.A. - Technology Assessment – because each and every assessment of scientific endeavours must analyse what works, what doesn`t and what must be done to fix the problems that come up.

So Technology Assessment - T.A. - is a way of mapping out the future in one way or another.

However Parliamentary T. A. which is Technology Assessment on behalf of the Parliament, shoulders even more responsibility. Parliamentary TA ultimately produces guidelines which have power to become Law.

So, Today, I will demonstrate this unique link between Parliamentary Technology Assessment and the Future by showing three aspects of it through concrete examples:

-         first, Parliamentary T. A. shares responsibility in shaping the Future;

-         second, Parliamentary T.A. should always be designed to protect ALL scientific options for the Future;

-         third, Parliamentary T.A. can be called upon to deal with the very near Future.

I. First idea : Parliamentary Technology Assessment bears responsibility for shaping the Future

This seems to be a rather obvious assertion, but the significant word here is “responsibility”.

This is because Parliamentary T.A. comes before as well as after the Law :

         Before the law, Parliamentary T.A. conditions the light under which the law is drafted whilst

         After the law has been adopted, Parliamentary TA scrutinizes the way the law is actually implemented.

Parliamentary Technology Assessment is not some game to guess about what will most probably happen. Rather it is a commitment to make something work in the Future, and at the same time – be accountable for just that : how things in the Future work.

There are two subject matters in which the French OPECST clearly deals with this situation: bioethics and energy.

As far as Energy is concerned, OPESCT first committed, twenty years ago, to designing the management structure for nuclear security and nuclear wastes.

More recently, its duty has extended to all research areas in energy.

Of course, these subject matters are vital for the Future, especially energy. That is the reason why I requested we discuss this at our last Council meeting.

II. Second idea : Parliamentary Technology Assessment must keep all scientific options open for the Future

This is yet another aspect of Parliamentary T A`s : ‘responsibility’ to the Future.  Parliamentary T A draws attention to the most advanced technical and scientific means available in its studies and then advises Heads of State.

In fact the scientific possibilities of the Future are often the Crux of the matter.

Let me give you two examples of this in France:

-         first,  CO2 mitigation;

-         second, the reversibility of nuclear wastes storage.

As far as CO2 mitigation is concerned, there is one solution which has been put in centre stage -  Carbon Capture and Storage. Yet there may be other - and potentially better - ways of dealing with this problem, which are based on chemical transformation …

As far as ‘reversibility’ is concerned, there is a strong impulse to describe way ahead of time – before 2015 on the French timetable - what exactly this means. But people want to know now – even though the time is not yet ripe…

III. Third and last idea : Parliamentary Technology Assessment can not content itself with gazing far off into the distant Future

Once again, this is another aspect of its ‘responsibility’ since the credibility of Parliamentary Technology Assessment may be requested to grapple with burning scientific issues.

There are two ways to involve Parliamentary T. A.  in current issues:

1) Most commonly, this happens when a social emotion is strongly linked to a scientific problem. There are a growing number of examples of this, due to the intensification of that well-known social feeling called NIMBY : not in my backyard ! People love to use new technologies but, they are suspicious of the intermediate means used to provide them. Think of Cell phone relay antennas... Our difficult job then is to see if this suspicion is grounded in reality or not. What  happens in the Future is only a part of the problem.

Nowadays, the French OPECST is conducting several studies of this kind.  We are looking into subjects such as : Health Impact of Mobile Phones, Health and Environmental Impact of Pesticides, Environmental Impact of High Voltage Power Lines.

2) But there is yet another way to involve Parliamentary Technology Assessment in current issues. This is an emerging aspect for which I am just about to finish a report at the end of this month.

It came about through an extension of the now common legislative process which is to ask for an assessment study within the law itself. This time, the OPECST was not asked to assess but to prepare Government guidelines for implementing the law. This involves finding a way to fix – or adjust – energy consumption ceilings for new buildings. The job had to be completed in six months, and the results implemented directly. This kind of imperative does not leave much time for dreaming about the Future.

As a conclusion, I would like to stress two ideas:

- first, to be sure, Parliamentary T A  has to deal with the Future, but the Future has different terms, and there is more and more Parliamentary pressure for Technology Assessment in the short term.  This makes assessment conclusions even more critical;

- second, this is why such an organization as EPTA COULD BE, and MUST BE, very helpful. It must work as a debate platform to exchange experience, compare view points and  best practices from different countries.