And suddenly, the president starts talking about climate again. Despite the health crisis, Emmanuel Macron has turned his agenda upside down and repainted his week in green. This Tuesday, the president is organizing an ecological defense council. In the afternoon, he must go to the industrial site of Framatome, in Le Creusot, to praise the virtues of civil and military nuclear power. “The Head of State assumes what this energy brings, which emits less CO2 than photovoltaics,” said those around him. The day before, Emmanuel Macron hosted a video conference on “low emission zones”, these metropolises where polluting vehicles are subject to traffic restrictions.
The President is currently trying to multiply the signals. Because of the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement which falls next Saturday? Or to silence the flood of criticism that fuse about the fate of the Citizens’ Convention on the climate, this great initiative of direct democracy launched after the crisis of the yellow vests? On paper, the idea is simple. The 150 citizens drawn by lot worked on proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But in fact, Emmanuel Macron’s promise to translate them “without filter” is far from being kept, denounce a good number of conventioneers. Faced with this sling, the Head of State will receive these citizens in mid-December. “He will have discussions with them to explain and justify why certain adjustments have been made”, details a relative.
“I did not participate in this construction simply to prohibit heated terraces …”
In the meantime, it was his ministers (Barbara Pompili, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, Emmanuelle Wargon) who received delegations on Monday to discuss the bill supposed to take up the proposals of the Convention. “We are preparing a law that will root ecology in what French society has most fundamental: schools, public services, justice, but also town planning or advertising”, trumpets Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili.
Except that many activists fear setbacks. And the intervention of Macron, Friday on Brut, heated the spirits. His “I’m not going to say it’s the Koran or the Bible, or whatever” went wrong with the citizens drawn. “There had already been the little phrase about the Amishs, let’s say that these outings are not very elegant, comments acid Sylvain Burquier one of the 150. I did not participate in this construction simply to ban heated terraces …”
Denouncing the weakening of their measures, some of the Conventionaires even chose to boycott these meetings. This is the case of Agnès Catoire who had yet played the game up to now. “During the previous so-called working meetings, I especially saw meetings where lobbyists demolished our measures”, regrets the one who carried the moratorium on 5G, a proposal already buried, as well as the regulation of advertising for the most polluting products, a measure that stalls this one.
He must quickly regain control
Monday evening, at the end of the first two meetings with the government, Grégoire Fraty, another drawn by lot, launched in the form of a joke: “We are less disappointed than expected!” In his eyes, the government’s plan provides for “strong enough” measures while specifying that it will remain vigilant. The thirty-something gives as an example the ban on building new shopping centers. ” Great ! he comments. But an exemption has been added for centers of less than 10,000 square meters. Will these be exceptions or a way to pass it all? “
The atmosphere is in the balance of power before the translation into a bill. The proof with the petition of Cyril Dion, which has already garnered more than 300,000 signatures. The Citizens’ Convention is an experiment without any real legal obligation. “Only the political and moral commitment of Emmanuel Macron commits him. »Recalls Mathilde Imer, member of the governance committee and one of the architects of this initiative. To prevent the Convention trap from closing in on him, the President must now regain control.
A member of the government laments. “The French are paradoxical about the environment. It’s a major concern in the country, but at the same time, Black Friday has just seen a 247% jump in online consumption. “
Original article by : www.leparisien.fr
