NATIONAL CONSULTATION. Emmanuel Macron announced, this Thursday, September 8, 2022, the launch of a “National Consultation” in a few days. What are the objectives ? Who can participate? How ? Here’s what we know.
The Great National Debate back in France? Emmanuel Macron did not say it in these terms, but it is a device with very likely similar contours that will see the light of day. On the sidelines of the launch of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) this Thursday, September 8, 2022 in Marcoussis (Essonne), the President of the Republic spoke to define the objectives of this body which brings together many players in political life, economic, trade union or even associative of the country, in spite of a certain boycott. Among these ambitions, that of the launch of a national consultation, open to all. “I want to put my compatriots back at the heart of the nation’s major choices”, justified the Head of State.
What is the “national consultation” announced by Emmanuel Macron?
Emmanuel Macron keeps repeating it since the results of the legislative elections: a “new method” of governance must emerge in France, a politically fragmented country without an absolute majority in the National Assembly and with various groups of significant weight. Without full legislative powers, the President of the Republic therefore wants to change his tune to move the country forward. Its leitmotif: relying on everyday actors. “If we want to change things in depth, we have to act on the ground. It also means transforming our way of acting by putting the forces on the ground back at the heart of public action”, he explained during of the opening of the CNR.
To this end, Emmanuel Macron has therefore announced the launch of a “national consultation”, supposed to allow all French people to contribute to the advancement of public debate. “I want to put our compatriots back at the heart of the nation’s major choices. Those who represent them, each and everyone in their legitimacy, are here today (at the launch of the CNR, editor’s note). We have to be able to decline that and that they (the French, editor’s note) can express themselves on these major choices, these major transitions (climatic and demographic, editor’s note).
When will this “national consultation” be launched?
When announcing this “national consultation”, Emmanuel Macron indicated that it would be launched “as of next week”, without indicating a precise date. It is therefore during the week of September 12 to 18, 2022 that this discussion space will be officially deployed.
Emmanuel Macron was to speak to clarify the contours of a CNR so far very vague, he took the opportunity to announce the launch of a “national consultation”… without precisely defining the framework. At this point, it is simply known that this democratic exercise will take place online, as indicated by the Head of State, but also, a priori, during physical meetings. “The debates and the coalitions of action, we will build them on the ground. We will open next week a very broad national consultation which will be online, which will be open, so that there are debates on the ground , which can be online, which can be open. All of this deserves transparency, openness… it is rather my wish”, explained the President of the Republic. For the time being, no specific website has been indicated.
Almost four years after the launch of the Great National Debate following the emergence of the Yellow Vests movement, Emmanuel Macron therefore intends to give the floor to the French and try to involve them, at least on paper, in decision-making. . “We must face the democratic demand that there is. Our compatriots want to be better associated, participate better, decide more”, justified the Head of State. The Great Debate had made it possible to bring out, online, nearly 2 million contributions, to which were added those written in the nearly 20,000 notebooks of grievances present in the town halls. But what came of it?
While many critics followed the end of the device, claiming that the Great Debate was a sword in the water, Emmanuel Macron, he wants to retain the outlets allowed by this device, just like that of the Citizens’ Convention on the climate. “The Great Debate brought out a lot of questions and led us to take a lot of decisions. The Citizens’ Convention, there are frustrations that have been expressed because we have not taken up the whole thing. But that has led to very concrete things (decisions, legislation, major advances). All of this makes it possible to do things.”