During a speech for the 65th anniversary of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, the Head of State confirmed his desire to broaden the scope of the referendum through a constitutional revision.
“We must lower the bar and the terms” organization of the shared initiative referendum (RIP) to “a million” of French signatories, asked Wednesday October 4 on franceinfo Ugo Bernalicis, deputy of La France insoumise du Nord. The President of the Republic spoke to the Constitutional Council on Wednesday. He recognized that the implementation of the RIP “must be simpler” with thresholds allowing its use which “should be reviewed”.
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Rebellious France “has tabled bills at least twice to modify the number of signatories of the RIP during the previous term”, recalls Ugo Bernalicis. Currently, the RIP can only be organized at the initiative of a fifth of the members of Parliament, supported by a tenth of the voters registered on the electoral lists, i.e. 185 parliamentarians and approximately 4.7 million French people. “A million” of French, “that could make everyone agree”according to the deputy. “We know that we can reach it since we reached it at Aéroports de Paris”when the RIP launched to challenge the privatization of the company had gathered 1,116,000 supporters in March 2020.
“Everyone says, we have to do it. When we actually propose it to the Assembly, there is no one left. It’s still quite strange. It’s rather the Macronists who should be asked the question .”
Ugo Bernalicis, LFI deputyat franceinfo
But Ugo Bernalicis reminds us that La France insoumise is “for a citizens’ initiative referendum” rather than a shared initiative referendum. “The shared initiative referendum, as its name indicates, is first and foremost the initiative of parliamentarians who will seek out the signatories, citizensexplains the MP. We also want citizens, on their own, to be able to make proposals. Let all this be fueled by popular and democratic initiative.” But he regrets that this was not addressed by Emmanuel Macron.
The rebellious MP reiterates the position of his political family: “We are for a sixth Republic, but not by a copy given by the President of the Republic which should bring everyone together. By a Constituent Assembly.” “We want people to get involved in this, that it is not a process from above, not a presidential process. It must be a citizen and popular process”insists Ugo Bernalicis.