French Prime Minsiter Edouard Philippe on Monday outlined the initial conclusions of the so-called Grand Débat, or great debate, a nationwide public consultation President Emmanuel Macron launched in January in response to the Yellow Vest protest movement, reports FRANCE 24.
“We have reached a point where hesitating would be worse than a mistake, it would be a failing,” the prime minister told a crowd in Paris on Monday. “The need for change is so radical that any conservatism, any cold feet, would be in my eyes unforgiveable,” he said before sketching out four requirements to emerge from the debate: cutting taxes, addressing the sentiment of neglect in some territories, building tools for a “more deliberative democracy” and better responding to climate concerns.
Philippe presented the early findings at the Grand Palais in central Paris, just steps from the Champs-Elysées avenue, which has served as an occasionally fiery theatre of discontent during Yellow Vest protest clashes with police over the 21 consecutive weekends of demonstrations since the movement began in November.
Named after the high-visibility gear French motorists are required to keep in their vehicles, the movement was initially meant to oppose a slated fuel-tax increase. Amid the outpouring of popular condemnation displayed on French roadways and roundabouts, that tax hike was quickly shelved and more than 10-billion-euros worth of government measures pledged to ease cost of living concerns. But the popular movement soon grew into a backlash against Macron’s administration and elites more broadly.
Macron launched the nationwide debate in January, saying he “intend[ed] to transform anger into solutions”. Last week in Corsica, the president wrapped up the last in a series of marathon town hall meetings, televised and live streamed, that saw him take questions for several hours at a time in cities and towns across the country.
But those town hall debates were merely the tip of the Grand Débat iceberg. The initial findings presented Monday stem from a sweeping campaign to gather grievances and suggestions contributed in person as well as online. The initiative cost 12 million euros.
In the end, visitors to the "granddebat.fr" platform contributed 1,932,881 answers and comments to the debate online, in addition to the 27,400 letters and e-mails sent. At 16,337 city and town halls across the country, comment books were made available for the public to leave their concerns and suggestions. A total of 10,134 local meetings were held, drawing nearly half a million participants; 282 of those rendez-vous were conducted abroad, in 82 countries.
The data collected – some 630,000 typed or handwritten pages – were processed by 150 people, either manually or using automated text analysis software, and are available en masse to anyone interested, the prime minister said, stressing that there isn’t an official reading of the nearly-three-month debate.