President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday, November 20, in Belgium that "it is through dialogue" and "explanation" that it will be possible to end the movement of yellow vests.
He was speaking during a debate with the Belgian Prime Minister in front of students at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Emmanuel Macron spoke, implicitly, about the protest movement of yellow vests in progress in France. "The government is currently facing protests. It is in the dialogue that we can get out of it, in the explanation, in the ability to find both the right rhythm and the solutions on the ground " , declared the President of the Republic, on the second day of his visit in Belgium.
The head of state has deemed "normal" that there are protests because "things do not happen spontaneously" . The ecological transition "supposes changing habits, it is never easy," he added, hoping that "collectively, we must have a spirit of responsibility . "
He had Hulot on the phone
He reiterated that the government's strategy was "on the one hand to tax fossil fuels more and on the other hand to have the support of the most modest" . He cited "conversion assistance [...] to buy much cleaner vehicles" , compensation for "people who need a lot of travel" and support for those who "burn with fuel" .
Emmanuel Macron also said he had "a few days ago on the phone" Nicolas Hulot, the former minister of ecological transition who resigned in late August. "He's a friend, a free man , " who "resigned for personal reasons that I respect," he said. The former minister, who remains one of the most popular political figures in France, must come out of his silence by participating Thursday in "L'Emission politique" of France 2 .