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France to hold referendum on placing environment in constitution

President Emmanuel Macron has announced plans to hold a referendum in France on whether the issues of battling climate change and protection of the environment should be included in the country's constitution.

La rédaction de Mediapart

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Emmanuel Macron has said he wants to hold a referendum in France on whether to change the constitution to reflect the fight against climate change and protecting the environment, reports Euronews.

The French president, who was speaking to the Citizen's Convention on Climate, stressed the nation needed to "keep moving forward" now that the work is "even more urgent".

"Should we do more?" Macron asked, later answering: "Yes" to his own question.

The statement was a brief part of a four-hour discussion on Monday involving dozens of French citizens who had been randomly picked to propose ways to cut emissions.

The topic of amending the nation's constitution to include environmental commitments was first proposed by the Convention in June - and now appears to have presidential approval.

It would just need to pass votes in the lower house of parliament and the Senate to go ahead.

Macron also acknowledged that France was not yet doing enough to tackle global warming as the country had been missing its targets on the Paris Agreement.

Much of these efforts have also been delayed until next year.

Read more of this report from Euronews.