2023-11-18 12:00:20
Intended to create consensus around the democratic renovation project, the “Saint-Denis meetings” took a distinctly political turn on Friday, November 17. Three party leaders who participated in the first session on August 30, Manuel Bompard (La France insoumise, LFI), Olivier Faure (Socialist Party, PS) and Eric Ciotti (Les Républicains, LR), decided to boycott the second. In return, they suffered the wrath of the Head of State, who made discussions last nine hours with those who had instead chosen to stay around the table, namely the Presidents of the two Assemblies and the leaders of the other parties.
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There is little doubt that there are shared faults in this sudden bout of tension. LFI relied on the repeated use of 49.3 on budgetary texts to denounce “a democratic masquerade”. The PS invoked its legitimate fear of finding itself hostage to a rapprochement between the head of state and the right regarding the broadening of the scope of the referendum.
In full discussion of the bill on immigration, LR demands, like the National Rally, a referendum on immigration, which presupposes first modifying the scope of article 11 to extend it to subjects of Company. Emmanuel Macron having been favorable to this last hypothesis, doubt was allowed. Less understandable is the attitude of Eric Ciotti, the boss of LR, who, rather than seeking to push his advantage, preferred to slam the door on the grounds that the parties would be marginalized by the unprecedented format of the “Saint-Denis meetings “. Bad faith has limits; the president of LR is in reality subject to pressure from the hawks of his party who do not want to owe anything to the head of state, nor negotiate with him.
No consensus between parties
This revolt does not completely hinder Emmanuel Macron, who was elected in 2017 on the disappointed promise of a democratic renovation and intends, before letting go of the reins in 2027, to confront everyone with their responsibilities. One subject has been put forward, the inclusion of voluntary termination of pregnancy in the Constitution, which should be the subject of a congress in March. Other projects are open concerning Corsica and New Caledonia, but the most serious question relates to the referendum. For six years, the trivialization of its use has been called for on almost all opposition benches, but not for the same reasons, nor on the same themes.
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The demand arose during the “yellow vest” crisis, the protest movement generated by pension reform or the debates on immigration. The evolution involves the balance between representative democracy and direct democracy, the power of elected officials and that of the people. It deserves to be seriously evaluated. The head of state was in favor of it. Friday’s discussions showed that there was little consensus between the parties around the idea of extending the referendum to social issues. Consequently, there will be none on immigration. Participants also did not agree on lowering the thresholds for triggering a shared initiative referendum. At this stage, only the evolution of the legislative ballot towards a proportional system has received a majority of favorable opinions.
Given the scale of the democratic crisis, these results may appear disappointing. However timid it may be, progress has nevertheless been made: a majority of parties have agreed to debate difficult subjects together, exempting themselves from the easy game of putting forward strong demands then accusing the other of blocking everything. From this point of view, the absentees played badly: they gave the feeling of discarding.
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