Macron kick-starts 'great debate' to win back support in France

GRAND BOURGTHEROULDE, France－French President Emmanuel Macron attempted on Tuesday to rebound from two months of often violent anti-government protests by launching a nationwide debate over the grievances fueling the "yellow vest" movement.

Macron traveled to the northern town of Grand Bourgtheroulde to kick-start what he has billed as a "great national debate" which he hopes will help turn around his presidency.

The 41-year-old leader passed a group of "yellow vest" protesters, some of whom shouted "Macron resign", en route to his meeting with 600 mayors which was broadcast live on French news channels for more than three hours.

In his opening remarks to the gathering in the town's sports hall, Macron promised that all the questions raised by citizens would be given consideration.

"There can be no taboos," he said in an answer to accusations that he has tried to limit the scope of the debate to coincide with his reform agenda.

Defending himself for over an hour against charges that he has exacerbated inequality and neglected the provinces, he said: "People always want someone to blame. I feel that I'm fulfilling that role and I accept it."

He again ruled out immediately repealing his controversial cuts to taxes on high earners but said: "If some of the measures taken over the past 20 months were misguided they will be corrected."

Macron's poll ratings had already been in freefall before hundreds of thousands of protesters from rural and small-town France rose up in mid-November over increased fuel taxes.

The protests snowballed into an anti-government revolt, with tens of thousands of demonstrators taking part in weekly rallies in Paris and other big cities that have regularly ended in clashes with police and vehicles being torched.

Sense of abandonment

Macron is hoping that returning to the sort of participative democracy he had championed during his grassroots election campaign will take the heat out of the protests.

On Tuesday, several mayors spoke of a sense of abandonment and dwindling public services in sparsely populated rural areas.

"We feel as if there is a two-speed France and wonder if we're not in the B category," Jean-Paul Legendre, mayor of Iville, a town of 500 people, told Macron.

"We feel isolated and yet we're only 160 kilometers from Paris," added Jean-Noel Montier, mayor of Mesnil-en-Ouche, a collection of several remote villages.

Tuesday's meeting sounded the start of two months of consultations across France on four main themes that emerged from the "yellow vest" protests: Taxation; France's transition to a low-carbon economy; democracy and citizenship, and the functioning of the state and public services.

In an open letter to the French released on Sunday setting out 35 questions, Macron said he hoped "as many as possible" would participate in the town-hall-style discussions.

"We won't agree on everything, that's normal, that's democracy. But at least we'll show we are a people who are not afraid to talk, exchange and debate."

While the mayors gathered in Grand Bourgtheroulde appeared glad to be given a hearing, many "yellow vests" have reacted skeptically to Macron's initiative, seeing it as a ploy to undercut their movement.

On Tuesday, police used tear gas to disperse a group of around 100 protesters who gathered near the meeting venue in Normandy.

An Elabe poll Tuesday showed the French feelings were conflicted about the debates, with 40 percent saying they intended to participate but 66 percent saying they did not think it would end the protests. Macron has announced other measures to try to end the social unrest, including scrapping fuel tax hikes and unveiling a 10 billion euro ($11.5 billion) package of wage increases and tax relief for low earners.

AFP/Reuters