Emmanuel Macron presented this Thursday the launch of the National Council for Refoundation as a “new democratic initiative.” The Head of State announced there a “very broad national consultation” online and on the ground to put the French back “within the great options of the Nation.”
But this is far from the first time that the president has tried to involve citizens, political parties and associations in his decisions. BFMTV.com summarizes the president’s promises at the time and the sometimes meager results.
• The National Conference of Territories
The promise. Emmanuel Macron announced during the 2017 presidential campaign to the mayors of France that he wanted to launch the National Conference of Territories. As a candidate, he imagines this place of debate between the Elysee and local elected associations as an opportunity to “reconnect with the territories” to “implement a new method of work” and “fight against territorial division”. The proposal seduces, while the communities are still digesting the territorial reform of François Hollande, among the multiplication of metropolises and XXL regions.
The result. Launched to great fanfare in the Senate in July 2017 and scheduled twice a year, the system quickly took a turn for the worse. From the second edition in Cahors, 6 months later, the discussions became tense. Elected officials find it hard to digest the budget constraints they experience while under guardianship. In July 2018, mistrust runs its course: the association of Mayors of France, the Assembly of the departments of France and the Regions of France refuse to participate. Hervé Morin, president of the Normandy Region, denounces a financial framework decided without consultation and laments “a political behavior that is paleolithic”. This is the last edition despite several attempts by the executive to relaunch the system.
The balance of Emmanuel Macron. Without going back specifically to the National Conference of Territories, the candidate for his re-election expressed himself in a letter sent to the mayors last March.
“If the French trust me, I would need them to implement my project”, announcing that they want to implement a new democratic method to develop solutions as close as possible to the field, with those who do it”, they write to the 35,000. mayors
• The great debate and grievance notebooks
The promise. In the midst of the crisis of the yellow vests, the tenant of the Elysee launched the Great National Debate in a televised speech in December 2018. He presented it as an “unprecedented” consultation to respond to the demands of the protesters and “take the living pulse of the country “. .
By pressuring elected officials to exchange with their constituents and then report back on the outcome of these discussions, many city councils open grievance notebooks. The French are also invited to express themselves on an online platform to share their difficulties, in particular by answering questions about ecology, taxes, public services and democracy.
Two days after this presidential speech, Édouard Philippe, then prime minister, explained to the deputies that the French suggestions were intended to lead to legislative proposals.
The result. Emmanuel Macron himself moderated several debates with associations of mayors as well as with citizens. More than 10,000 such events have been organized throughout France. 20,000 grievance notebooks were blackened in 18,000 municipalities and 270,000 contributions were published online, according to figures from the executive. The government estimates that 1.5 million people have spoken out and sees it as a success of the system.
In the end; Emmanuel Macron made several promises: the direct debit of unpaid alimony, the annulment of the increase in the CSG for retirement pensions of less than 2,000 euros per month… If some are maintained, such as the abolition of the ENA, others are paralyzed and They were not on Emmanuel Macron’s agenda during the 2022 campaign, such as reducing the number of parliamentarians or relaxing the terms of the shared initiative referendum.
The balance of Emmanuel Macron. The President of the Republic assured this Thursday that “the great debate has allowed many questions to be raised.” “He led us to make many decisions,” he boasted. “Collectively we have a good memory of that.”
• Citizen Convention for Climate
The promise. At the end of the restitution of the great debate, Emmanuel Macron announced in April 2019 a Citizen Convention for the climate, taking up a proposal issued by the collective of “citizen vests”, which brings together activists and academics. Since October 2019, it has brought together 150 citizens drawn by lottery, with the aim of “defining the structural measures to achieve, in a spirit of social justice, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990”.
“Whatever comes out” of the Convention “will be submitted without filter” to Parliament or to a referendum, then promises the president.
The result. Three months after the release of his work, the leader is making reservations. “The more precise, clear and detailed, the more unfiltered it can be,” he warns. “There is a scenario that can be, me, tell you: ‘I don’t agree'”, he still advances.
The members of the Convention finally make 149 proposals, but Emmanuel Macron immediately proposes “3 wild cards”. He eliminates from the list of proposals transmitted the will to limit the speed on motorways to 110 km / h, the 4% tax on dividends of companies over 10 million euros and the modification of the preamble of the Constitution.
Of the other 146, only 18 – that is, 12% – are finally subject to full inclusion in the bill against global warming in 2021, according to a calculation by Le Monde made at the time of the presentation of the bill. of the weather. In addition to the three measures rejected outright by the Elysee, another 23 proposals are completely absent from the executive’s action. “There has to be disappointment,” director Cyril Dion acknowledged at the time, and guarantor of the Convention in 2021.
The balance of Emmanuel Macron. The President of the Republic mentioned this Thursday “the frustrations expressed by some because we had not accepted all” of the proposals. “But it led to very concrete things, a law text, great advances so that all of this allows us to move forward, to do things,” said Emmanuel Macron, deploying the method chosen by the National Refoundation Council.
Source: BFM TV
