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Macron plans referendum to include climate change fight in France's constitution

AFP
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Macron plans referendum to include climate change fight in France's constitution
Photo: AFP

President Emmanuel Macron has declared that he plans to call a referendum on changing France's constitution in order to include a commitment to fight against climate change and for the protection of the environment.

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Speaking to members of a Citizen's Convention on Climate, Macron said that the referendum proposal would need to be approved by the lower house of parliament and the senate.

Changing the constitution to include the climate commitment and making destroying nature a crime - so-called "ecocide" - topped a list of proposals made by the Convention in June.

READ ALSO It's set to be punishable by 10 years in jail in France - but what is ecocide?

 

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The group is composed of 150 randomly picked members of the public who were tasked by the government with proposing ways in which France could cut its emissions.

The last referendum in France was in 2005 when voters were asked to back the creation of a European constitution.

They rejected the proposal in a humiliating defeat for then-president Jacques Chirac.

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Anonymous 2020/12/15 18:08
These environmentalists have a track record of bad judgement. From saying diesel is better than petrol. Burning wood should be encouraged not gas (now 40% of the forests in Europe have disappeared) Windturbines are good yet the economic damage caused in making them is massive. Electric cars are the future but ignore how damaging lithium batteries are when they are made and thrown away. A modern Mercedes diesel car produces less CO2 than an electric car. The list is endless. We need proper solutions, not silly ill-thought out rubbish from the eco loons like Macron.

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