On a windswept night in the northern French port of Cherbourg, Brigitte, a health insurance worker, stood up at a town hall meeting that she hoped might change the future of France, reports The Guardian.
“I hear a lot of people criticising the president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, for wearing designer trainers worth thousands of euros,” she said. “I understand she has to represent French designer brands. But let’s look at other presidential costs. Why doesn’t the president, Emmanuel Macron, entertain visiting heads of state more frugally? If he hosted state visits sitting on a bale of hay with a mug of cider, it would send a clear message to the rest of France on reducing unnecessary costs.”
One pensioner shouted: “And they could use paper plates, not the new presidential dinner plates they just spent 50,000 euros on!” A retired teacher said the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, went home at night and did her own shopping, yet France had a 365-room presidential palace that cost more than 100 million euros a year to run. “That’s because in France we still have still a type of king,” sighed a trade unionist.
For four hours, more than 100 citizens thrashed out their views on fat-cat pay, inequality in the tax system and Macron’s much-criticised drive to privatise certain state-controlled enterprises. A 16-year-old volunteer logged all comments in neat writing to send to the presidency.
Macron’s “Great Debate” – a vast, unprecedented nationwide exercise in consulting citizens on how to fix France’s problems – is the latest attempt by the centrist president to try to bring an end to almost three months of spectacular anti-government revolt by the gilets jaunes or yellow vest movement.
Macron’s idea to run thousands of local meetings was at first likened by some critics to the ill-fated consultation exercise by King Louis XVI in 1789. The king sought to quell popular discontent, but instead kickstarted the French revolution. Four years later he lost his head at the guillotine.
The gilets jaunes continue to protest – one demonstrator lost part of his hand during clashes with police in Paris this weekend – but Macron’s dire approval ratings have slowly begun to rise in recent weeks. Only around 34% of French people say they approve of the way he runs France, but he has regained some support, mainly on the right but also among some on the Left.
Two months ago, at the height of protests, it was hard for Macron to leave the confines of his presidential palace without getting heckled and jeered. Now he has made several six-hour appearances at carefully organised debates across France. Speaking to local mayors and select young people, he has rolled up his shirt sleeves and defended his policies through a handheld microphone in what has been nicknamed The Macron Show.
There is concern over whether citizens’ suggestions will be taken onboard. Macron has refused to change his stance on liberalising the economy and overhauling the welfare state, and the government is braced for protests to continue for several more months.
The street demonstrations in Paris this weekend showed a new focus of anger against political institutions, with the French parliament and senate targeted. One protester in Normandy on Saturday had “Bring back the guillotine” written on his yellow vest.
The country home of Richard Ferrand, the leader of the lower house of parliament and a key Macron ally, was targeted in an arson attack this weekend. No group claimed responsibility and the investigation is ongoing. Ministers blamed a climate of violence against politicians sparked by the gilets jaunes protests.
More than 80 MPs from Macron’s party, La République En Marche, are said to have been targeted with written threats or attacks on their homes and offices since the start of the revolt. One MP woke up to find her home’s driveway had been bricked up in the night. Others have had cars burnt and windows smashed.