Referendum, riots: Macron wants to accelerate consultation with parties and civil society

During a plenary session of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR), one of the other consultation tools he initiated with local authorities, unions and associations, the Head of State also announced the holding of thematic CNRs on urban riots and mental health, a subject of central concern for elected officials.

In a six-page letter, of which AFP has had a copy and which summarizes their exchanges of August 30 in Saint-Denis, Emmanuel Macron offers political leaders to see them again this fall and undertakes to make them a proposal "in the weeks who come" on a modification of the use of the referendum.

While acknowledging that the discussion on this subject "did not lead to the emergence of a consensus", he believes that this "will allow us to continue our exchange which I hope will be conclusive at our next meeting". The left is calling in particular for a referendum on pension reform, with little chance of being heard.

“A calendar to build the concrete responses expected by our compatriots” will be transmitted next week, he specifies.

Emmanuel Macron had brought together party leaders and presidents of assemblies for what he called a "major political initiative".

“Known disagreements”

The objective is to overcome the divisions in order to propose legislative texts or to open the way to referendums so as to avoid blockages linked to the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

The exercise had left skeptics, especially on the left, the oppositions, who suspect the head of state of wanting to revive himself after a difficult start to his five-year term.

In this missive which reviews all the subjects discussed, Emmanuel Macron recognizes that the question of immigration is the subject of "known disagreements" but "cannot be evaded".

The immigration bill "will be dealt with in Parliament this fall" and immigration could then possibly be the subject of a referendum, in the event of agreement on a constitutional revision to modify its scope.

The integration of foreigners will also have to be dealt with through the two questions of housing and "the policy of distribution of newcomers to our territory" on which a project will be launched "very quickly".

More broadly on institutional issues and "democratic life" (decentralization, proportional representation, multiple mandates, etc.), Emmanuel Macron proposes to "carry out direct work" with party leaders "during the months to come" in order to to “build the most ambitious proposal possible”.

He asks Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to submit concrete decisions to him within a month on "the deconcentration of state action" to strengthen "the effectiveness of the mayor-prefect couple".

"Quantum Leap"

Emmanuel Macron also confirms the holding of a “social conference” dedicated to low wages in October. As well as the presentation of the roadmap on ecological planning to political forces by Elisabeth Borne in the week of September 18.

Ecology holds “a tiny place” in presidential thinking, denounced Greens leader Marine Tondelier.

Denying all the forecasts, the president has also decided to renew the national CNRs, of which he chaired a third edition at the Elysee Palace on Thursday morning with some 70 participants, representatives of local authorities, associations and ministers.

Like the Saint-Denis meetings, they "participate in the same ambition, to strengthen the culture of compromise in a country which is sometimes severely lacking in it" and "to create a spirit of French co-responsibility", assured the Elysée, evoking even a “Copernican revolution” and a “quantum leap” since the first CNR in September 2022.

This tool - intended to "build consensus" - remains boycotted by the opposition and part of the unions (CGT, Force Ouvrière, etc.) and not very visible in public opinion.

"Something is changing in the minds of the French (..) Trade unions, professional organizations, politicians, elected officials, local authorities, all feel the need to go beyond the usual blockages, borders and partitions" , welcomed the boss of Modem, François Bayrou, at the end of the CNR.

Others are more doubtful. “There should be a multiplication of discussion spaces without this resulting in concrete decisions”, warned Johanna Rolland, socialist mayor of Nantes and president of urban France.