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France's Macron pledges open debate during 3-month-long consultations

Europe Materials 15 January 2019 23:50 (UTC +04:00)
"All questions are open, (and) there should be no taboo," French President Emmanuel Macron told hundreds of mayors gathering at Grand Bourgtheroulde, a commune in northwestern France where he started a three-month national debate to head off social roar
France's Macron pledges open debate during 3-month-long consultations

"All questions are open, (and) there should be no taboo," French President Emmanuel Macron told hundreds of mayors gathering at Grand Bourgtheroulde, a commune in northwestern France where he started a three-month national debate to head off social roar, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

"Today, I want to have a free exchange and tell me what you have in your head," Macron said. "If there are intelligent questions, topics that I have not seen emerging, they will also be discussed. There are no banned issues as we speak," he added.

In a long letter addressed to the French people and published by his office late on Sunday, Macron invited discontented people to participate in the three-month debate, during which a series of questions over taxes, green energy, institutional reform and citizenship would be discussed during meetings in town halls across French cities.

He pledged to make the consultation's conclusions public within a month of the end of the debate on March 15.

"The period we are witnessing poses many challenges to our country. I think we can transform that to a chance," he stressed.

Noting "territorial", "economic" and "democratic" rifts that are undermining the national unity, the head of state called on French people to "refuse demagogy because igniting anger has never made a solution".

Macron, who came to power in May 2017 on promises of a new and fair recipe for the eurozone's leading power, has witnessed tough months marked mainly by the "yellow vest" movement, a nationwide protest against his way of governing, which started as a campaign against a surge in fuel prices and high living costs.

Despite capitulating over plans for fuel taxes and offering 10-billion-euro (11.39 billion U.S. dollars) concessions to improve the French people's daily life, the president is still struggling to defuse the anger.

The 9th weekend action in row lured more than 80,000 people on Saturday, a turnout higher than a week earlier.

An Elabe poll, released last Wednesday, found that only 40 percent of citizens intend to take part in the debate.

Another poll conducted by Odoxa found that 70 percent of French people believed that the debate would not be useful.

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