Emmanuel Macron’s Saint-Denis Meetings: Referendum Expansion, Decentralization, and International News

Who will be sitting around Emmanuel Macron this Friday, all day in Saint-Denis, near Paris? The Head of State is in fact organizing a new meeting, called “Saint-Denis meetings”, in the Legion of Honor school where he inaugurated this format at the end of August.

Leaders of political parties, presidents of parliamentary groups and the presidents of the three chambers (Senate, Assembly, and economic, social and environmental council), are invited to interact with the president, without filter, without mobile phone, without collaborator. The goal: to foster consensus in a second five-year term marked by divisions and hampered by a relative majority in the National Assembly.

Empty chairs

Emmanuel Macron’s invitation was a hit the first time. But this time, Manuel Bompard (La France insoumise), Olivier Faure (Socialist Party), and Eric Ciotti (Les Républicains) snub the invitation. They denounce a communication operation and a staging. “Until Friday, the doors of this meeting will remain open to all those who have been invited,” affirms the Élysée diplomatically.

Emmanuel Macron is less so. He is angry to see government parties like the PS and LR skip a meeting during which the reform of the Constitution and the broadening of the scope of the referendum will be discussed. “This is a major political mistake on the part of these leaders,” said the head of state on the sidelines of a trip to Switzerland on Wednesday. “They will go and explain to their voters why they are not there,” he said.

One or more referendums?

And when the president is annoyed, generally, the response is to match. “I am convinced that there will be a blast effect from these Meetings,” predicts a minister, adding that he expects significant announcements at the end of the meeting, particularly on the referendum field.

The government has several pro-referendum lobbyists. Christophe Béchu (Territorial Cohesion and Ecological Transition) sent a note to the president on the subject. “I am in favor of a referendum before the end of the five-year term but not on a consensual subject. This must make it possible to resolve Gordian knots, for there to be several questions on the same day,” explains the minister.

Govern differently

The president wants to move forward on this subject. In addition to the possibilities of a referendum, decentralization and deconcentration are among the themes discussed. A few days before the congress of mayors (November 20 to 23), the aim is to make local public action more understandable and more effective. Former minister Eric Woerth, charged with a mission on this theme by Emmanuel Macron, will also be around the table this Friday in Saint-Denis.

The president has long had the ambition to modernize democratic life. He tried to do this via citizen conventions, major debates, national refoundation councils and therefore thanks to the Saint-Denis Meetings where he is at the center of the game facing opposition, when they are there. Emmanuel Macron will undoubtedly work to prove the absentees wrong.