Florian Philippot, far-right chief Marine Le Pen’s former strategist, said Mr Macron “promised” to hold a referendum, and he must now follow through on his pledge.
In July, just two months after his landslide victory against Mrs Le Pen, the 40-year-old president laid out plans for deep constitutional changes, saying that he wanted to overhaul the country’s election system to allow smaller parties to be better represented.
He also said that he wanted to slash the number of lawmakers by a third in both houses of parliament, saying they would “legislate less” but “act faster,” before pledging to curb the executive’s role in naming magistrates.
The measures, he said, would speed up lawmaking by shortening procedures and simplify the voting process. Mr Macron said that he would ask congress to approve the institutional reforms by summer 2018 or put them directly to voters in a referendum.
Mr Macron said during a parliamentary session at the Palace of Versailles: “In the past, procedures have taken preference over results, rules over initiative, living off the public purse over fairness… I want all these deep reforms that our institutions seriously need to be done within a year. These reforms will go to parliament but, if necessary, I will put them to voters in a referendum.”
Mr Philippot told France’s RMC radio: “France has not held a referendum on constitutional reform in 12 years, and yet it would allow us to debate the role of our political institutions.”
The head of the fledgling far-right The Patriots movement put Mr Macron under pressure as he declared France has no need for two assemblies, saying that the Senate was both “useless and unnecessary”.
Mr Philippot also said that France should abolish its Senate, saying that there was no need for two assemblies.
He said: “France should have one assembly, not two. I want us to abolish the Senate. It’s not useful and totally unnecessary.”
Mr Philippot’s dramatic exit from the Front National party in September left the already flailing party at crisis point.
The former ‘Frontiste’ said he had been forced to resign as the party’s vice president following a bitter battle over which ideological and political lines the party should pursue if it was ever to have a chance at winning power.
Mrs Le Pen, for her part, said her former protégé was “playing the victim” and defaming the party.