Temperatures rise as climate debate divides French citizens’ assembly, MPs

Members of France's Citizens' Climate Convention have called for a boycott of discussions with the government after the first of a series of meetings on transforming propositions into law. The citizen's assembly slammed the party of President Emmanuel Macron for both its approach to the legislation and the content of the proposed laws. 

Steam and smoke rise from a coal burning power plant in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. AP - Martin Meissner

Several members of the 150-strong Citizens' Climate Convention are to continue talks with government ministers on Tuesday, a day after "a climate of disagreement" between them and the government, centrist daily Le Monde reported.

President Macron, who devised the idea of a citizens assembly to drive the government's ecological thinking, has since complained that some members have gone too far, exceeding their advisory role and criticising the government for not being serious about reforms.

"They helped me at the start," the French leader said last weekend of some panel members. "Now they want everything."

Presidential promises and political reality

In establishing the panel, Macron promised that he would submit their proposals to parliament, or to a referendum, "without filter". 

He has since been obliged to explain that each proposition has had to be evaluated in terms of its likely consequences.

"Just because 150 citizens have written a document, that doesn't make it the Bible or the Koran," said Macron on Friday, in response to criticism from one of the guarantors of the Citizen's Convention, the film director Cyril Dion.

Réponse plus élaborée à ⁦@EmmanuelMacron⁩ et à sa colère dans #BrutMacron ⁦@brutofficiel⁩
« Tenir parole, pour un président de la République, c’est le socle de nos démocraties » via @lemondefr https://t.co/rnKTGEXsWV

— Cyril Dion (@cdion) December 5, 2020

Saying the original popular report has been whittled down and diminished, Dion called on the president to keep his word, reminding all concerned that the earth is likely to be between 3 and 7°C hotter by the end of this century, with vast areas becoming unsuitable for human habitation.

Divisions between panel members

Convention member Grégoire Fraty says the climate bill being prepared for parliament is not an end in itself, but a basis for further discussion.

Pour le moment, j'attends donc de pouvoir juger "sur pièces" ce projet de #LoiClimat qui va nous être présenté.

Et ce n'est qu'avec des éléments précis, qui nous seront justement expliqué dans les prochaines heures, que je pourrais me prononcer sur le fond.

Pas avant.

5/5

— Grégoire Fraty (@GregoireFraty) December 6, 2020

Another contributor to the original document, Isabelle Robichon, says convention members feel they have been fooled into wasting their time. Now the government is imposing its own agenda, without even informing the convention of the changes that are being imposed, she said.

Another of the original 150, Grégory Oliveira Dos Santos, said the government is "spitting on them", and called for a boycott of any further discussions.

"Right now, when we should be committing 200 percent to ecology, the government is giving money to people who are going in the opposite direction," Dos Santos said.

Greenpeace gets into the debate

The non-governmental organisation Greenpeace has joined the chorus of criticism: "The French government's failures are deplorable," said the international action group, "from allowing the sale of vehicles at the top end of the pollution scale to the failure to adjust tax rates for the road haulage sector." 

Greenpeace has also criticised the government's commitment to re-launch the air transport business, whatever it costs. Air transport is internationally recognised as a major contributor to the global rise in greenhouse gas emissions.