Despite the opposition boycott, the president launches the National Refoundation Council, a more pluralistic body to seek consensus
French President Emmanuel Macron launched this Thursday the so-called National Refoundation Council (CNR), a new dialogue that aims to bring together the political, economic, social and associative forces of the country to “achieve a consensus on the situation in France and its future’ and implement future reforms.
“I want to put our compatriots at the center of the nation’s big decisions,” said the president, often criticized in France for his vertical exercise of power.
The creation of the CNR was one of his campaign promises for last April’s presidential election. Macron promised the French “a new method” of government if he were re-elected.
The president announced in June the creation of this National Refoundation Council, which met for the first time this Thursday. Full employment, industrialisation, school, health, healthy aging and the ecological transition are, according to the Elysée, the main themes that the CNR will tackle.
“We don’t need more laws or more decrees, but rather action on the ground,” Macron said. “We have to create consensus. We should try to bring the points of view closer together and say what we agree with and what we don’t and say what we need,” he explained.
Macron has announced next week’s launch of a “very broad” national consultation online and on the ground to spark a debate on the country’s major challenges. He does not rule out the possibility that this new exercise in dialogue will translate into referendums.
The CNR is a nod to the National Council of the Resistance (CNR) of 1943, which united the resistance and drew up a list of reforms to be implemented after World War II. The launch site of the National Refoundation Council was not chosen at random. It’s done from the National Rugby Center, another CNR, where the French rugby team trains.
The National Refoundation Council has started its mission on the wrong foot. Opposition parties and most trade unions have boycotted the law, as Macron only plans to bypass parliament.
Among the absentees is the Senate President, Gérard Larcher. «I share the diagnosis about the crisis of democracy. But the National Refoundation Council is not the solution. We must avoid confusion between participatory democracy and representative democracy,” Larcher, a member of the Republican party, moderate right, wrote on Twitter.
The Senate President recalled that “representative democracy” is Parliament and that in France “a civil society forum” already exists, namely the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE, for its acronym in French).
Jordan Bardella, internal president of National Regroupment (former National Front) has described the CNR as “another means of communication that will not improve the situation of our compatriots, which is deteriorating day by day under his presidency.” “The future of France is decided and discussed in the National Assembly,” the far-right politician added.
“52 representatives of political forces, trade unions and officials were invited, 40 are here. The 12 absentees are wrong” and “they will not be able to explain later that they have not been consulted, that (decision-making) is too vertical,” added Macron, who has promised that “the door will always be open” to those who want to. participate in future National Refoundation Council nominations.
Source: La Verdad
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
