Macron announced on Monday that a referendum would be organized to integrate “climate defense and environmental preservation” into the Constitution if this reform is adopted by Parliament.
“It will be a constitutional reform in an article” which “must first go through the National Assembly and then the Senate”. It will then be submitted to a referendum,” said the head of the State at the conclusion of a meeting with the Citizen’s Climate Convention.
If it materializes, this referendum will be the first to be held in France since 2005, which focused on the European Constitution and saw the victory of the “no” vote.
The use of the referendum to “introduce the concepts of biodiversity, the environment, the fight against global warming” in Article 1 of the Constitution would see 149 proposals made by the 150 members of the Citizen’s Climate Convention included.
Emmanuel Macron had indicated on July 14 that he wanted to include the fight against global warming in the Constitution “as quickly as possible”, since it would be “a major step forward”. The Head of State added he had rejected the request to rewrite the preamble to the Constitution to “place the environment above our other fundamental values”.
In France, referendums are initiated by the President of the Republic on a proposal from the government or Parliament.
For matters of national interest, the procedure is governed by two articles of the Constitution: Article 11 – to adopt a bill – and Article 89 – to revise the Constitution. Article 89 requires that the proposed revision first be voted “by the two assemblies in identical terms”.
"Nous allons changer les programmes scolaires et faire une campagne de communication et d'éducation de nos concitoyens sur les enjeux écologistes" s'enthousiasme Macron.
La Rééducation Ecologiste est En Marche. pic.twitter.com/3SoI1j62F9— Jean Louis (@JL7508) December 14, 2020