FRENCH REVOLUTION: Rage against Emmanuel Macron’s national debate – ‘He won’t listen!’

The centrist government has been rattled by a wave of rolling, sometimes violent protests which began over a planned fuel tax hike and high living costs but morphed into a citizen-led revolt. Conducted by Opinionway for LCI television, newspaper Le Figaro and RTL radio, the poll showed 62 percent of the French don’t think that the Macron government will take into account suggestions put forward by citizens when shaping or tweaking policies up for debate. Only 36 per cent said Mr Macron would take their ideas and comments into consideration. Mr Macron last week kicked off a three-month national debate designed to calm two months of protests by the anti-government yellow vest movement, pledging to listen to new proposals.

The French have until mid-March to respond by contributing thoughts on an array of subjects in an initiative the president hopes will generate policy ideas and help build a new “contract” with the nation.

The debate will focus on four themes – taxes, green energy, institutional reform and citizenship. 

Discussions will be held on the internet and in town halls. Mr Macron is expected to return with his own conclusions in April.

The 41-year-old centrist said no topics are banned from the debates, but stressed he would not re-introduce the controversial ISF wealth tax, long a symbol of social justice and a key demand of the yellow vests. 

“This is how I intend to turn anger into solutions,” he said in an effort to soothe relations with a public angry at his aloof, monarchical style.  

But even though Mr Macron has refused to be swayed on his core economic reform agenda, the poll showed that 72 per cent of the French want him to change his liberal economic policy, which is widely viewed as pro-elite and anti-poor.

In addition, 64 percent of respondents said they were in favour of imposing annual migration quotas, another thorny issue the centrist government has asked the French to debate. 

The poll also showed that public support for the citizen-driven movement remains strong, with 57 per cent telling pollsters that the weekly protests were “justified”. 

What began online in mid-November as an impromptu backlash against higher pump prices and a planned increase in fuel taxes quickly ballooned into a broader outpouring of anger over the squeeze that rising living costs are putting on household buying power. 

Protesters come principally from the hard-pressed middle class and blue-collar workers living outside the big cities.

The yellow vest protests – which are now in their tenth week – badly dented Mr Macron’s already tepid satisfaction rating, which plummeted at the height of the movement. 

But his efforts to turn the tide of social unrest, which included a hike in the minimum wage, tax-free overtime and the scuttling of the fuel tax, seem to be paying off. 

While his approval rating fell into the low 20s in December, an Ifop poll published last week showed that it had risen to 27 per cent, up four points in one month.  

Some other recent surveys also showed an improvement in Mr Macron’s popularity, albeit smaller ones. 

The conciliatory measures announced by Mr Macron to appease the yellow vests will cost between 8-10 billion euros (£6.9-£8.7 billion). 

The Opinionway poll of 1,007 people was carried out on January 21-22; while the Ifop poll of 1,928 people was carried out on January 11-19. 

source: express.co.uk