France
Following the victory of environmentalists in several major French cities during municipal elections, the ecological transition is more than ever at the heart of the debates.
Emmanuel Macron will receive in the morning the members of the Citizen’s Climate Convention, 150 citizens who had been drawn to make proposals intended to respond to the climate emergency. (Photo Ludovic Marin / AFP)
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President Emmanuel Macron intends to provide “strong responses” on Monday in the field of ecology, “up to the challenges and expectations”. On Sunday, the Greens achieved a major breakthrough in the municipal elections.
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Emmanuel Macron will receive in the morning the members of the Citizen’s Climate Convention (CCC). 150 citizens were drawn to make proposals to respond to the climate emergency.
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This initiative, taken last year, aimed to respond to the dispute heard during the “yellow vests crisis”. The demonstrators notably called for more direct democracy. Six of these citizens will present the conclusions of their work to the Head of State.
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To reinvent oneself”
After the coronavirus crisis, the latter affirmed its desire to “reinvent itself”. He notably called for the development of a “strong, ecological, sovereign and united economy” to emerge from the recession into which the crisis born of the epidemic of coronavirus plunged the country.
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And after the victory of environmentalists in several major French cities (Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, but also allies of Anne Hidalgo in Paris) during the municipal elections, the ecological transition is more than ever at the heart of the debates. Sunday, Macron’s party suffered a setback, against a backdrop of strong abstention (over 60%).
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It remains to be seen what he will take away from the 149 proposals that the members of the CCC will make to him. Among the most noted: limiting speed on highways to 110 km / h instead of 130 km / h currently, a risky measure in terms of popularity.
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“Punitive ecology”
Drastic limitation of advertising, compulsory and comprehensive thermal renovation of buildings, reduction of the space for the private car, taxation of ultra-processed food, ban on GMO seeds or heated terraces: citizens have dealt with a number of divisive subjects, with the notable exception of the carbon tax.
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The right-wing opposition has already cried out for punitive ecology. Environmental NGOs, while judging these proposals sometimes timid or not very original, rely on them to maintain pressure on the president, who had committed to transmit them “without filter” for application.
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This sequence will in any case launch Monday morning the last straight line of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term, which is due to end in April 2022. Concerning ecology, the first part of the mandate was especially marked by the shattering departure in 2018 of the government of Minister Nicolas Hulot, a figure of commitment to the environment in France, who believed that ecology was not a priority of the government.
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After these municipal elections, a government reshuffle is under consideration, there too with many questions, in particular on the advisability or not of changing prime minister after the clear re-election of Edouard Philippe in the port city of Le Havre (west).
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(pangs)
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