Citizens’ Congress: Emmanuel Macron announces third consultation in 2024

The head of state is strengthening calls for dialogue. Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday that a new citizens’ convention will be launched by the end of the year, following one on climate and end of life.

“The third convention will be launched soon, it is planned to be completed by the end of the five-year period,” he said during an exchange of views with members of the Citizens’ Convention on the issue of end of life at the Economic Council, Social. and Ecology (CESE).

The topic will be studied jointly with CESE “in the coming months” and will be “launched before the end of the year,” Emmanuel Macron added. “We can well imagine holding congresses of civil initiative,” the Head of State also noted.

The End of Life Convention brought together about 200 French people, randomly selected for several months, to consider changing the end of life law and then make recommendations. The result of this work was a draft presented on April 10 to the Council of Ministers, which began a legislative journey on Monday in the National Assembly that is likely to last up to two years.

Assisted dying will be reserved for adult patients born in France or permanently resident in the country and able to clearly express their wishes. You will also have to experience unbearable and incurable suffering, physical or psychological. Finally, vital forecasts must be made in the short to medium term.

“Deliberative Democracy and Participation”

However, according to many observers, the executive branch has ignored the conclusions of the Citizens’ Climate Convention. The head of state highly appreciated the work of the End of Life Convention, considering that “on the issue of such an ethical dimension” it represents “one of the factors in pacifying society and at the same time moving it forward.”

Faced with a “lack of interest in public affairs,” “I am convinced that deliberative and participatory democracy is the way to bring it all together,” he added, while acknowledging that some elements of the first convention were “much less well organized.” .

Emmanuel Macron also did not rule out the possibility of holding referendums. “I’m thinking of a few referendums where I could take the initiative,” he said. “I want to do it at the right time,” he added, recalling that ultimately a referendum is often “rarely an answer to the question asked, but rather a + yes or no + for the person asking it.”