2019, a French political year that is still being played on the street

The head of state had started 2019 in the midst of the yellow vests storm. He ends it with a France blocked by strikes against its pension reform, to which a majority of French people are opposed. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron recorded a defeat in the European elections and the forced resignation of a Minister of State. Recall of facts.

• The great national debate

It was at Grand Bourgtheroulde that Emmanuel Macron officially launched, on January 15, in the midst of the Yellow Vests crisis, the great national debate. Supposed to allow the French to express their grievances in matters of public policies, the great national debate arouses keen interest among many French people. They get involved by participating in meetings organized by local elected officials and by posting proposals on the dedicated website. But the exercise is also criticized: he is accused of being only a communication operation for Emmanuel Macron and of lacking independence from power. The great national debate also confirms the territorial divide between a France of large cities and a rural France, already highlighted by the yellow vests.

• Emmanuel Macron stays the course

After three months of great national debate and a one-week postponement of his speech due to the fire that ravaged Notre-Dame de Paris, Emmanuel Macron announced on April 25 that he intended to stay the course and not change the "directions taken during [the first two years"] of his five-year term. Nearly nine out of ten French people were in favor of a change in economic and social policy, according to a Viavoice poll published on March 20, but the President of the Republic explains that "the transformations underway and the transformations essential to make in our country do not should not be stopped. " The two main announcements concern the middle classes and retirees, with a reduction of 5 billion euros in income tax promised for 2020 and the reindexing of retirement pensions to inflation.

• The National Rally at the head of the European elections

The end of the great national debate gives way to an express campaign for the European elections, in which Emmanuel Macron is deeply involved. While 34 lists are proposed to the French, the Head of State, his government and his majority reduce the ballot to a duel between "progressists" of the Republic on the march (LREM) and "nationalists" of the National Rally (RN). Bet lost for Emmanuel Macron: the RN list, led by Jordan Bardella, came out on top on May 26 with 23.3% of the vote, ahead of that of LREM (22.4%), led by Nathalie Loiseau, whose campaign n never took off. The surprise of the election is twofold: buoyed by the context of the global climate markets, Yannick Jadot and Europe Écologie-Les Verts came third with 13.5% of the vote, while the list Les Républicains by François-Xavier Bellamy did not obtain 8.5% of the vote, prompting the resignation of the party boss, Laurent Wauquiez.

• François de Rugy pinched for lobsters

Minister of State in charge of the Ecological Transition, François de Rugy is forced to resign on July 16 after a week of media storm and cascading revelations from Mediapart, in particular on dinners organized when he was President of the Assembly national and works carried out in his apartment of minister's office. Upon leaving office, François de Rugy violently attacks the media and dares to compare him with former Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy, who had committed suicide in 1993 when suspicions of corruption were hanging over him.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the Balkany spouses convicted; Marine Le Pen, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Louis Aliot, Nicolas Bay, François Bayrou, Marielle de Sarnez, Sylvie Goulard, Richard Ferrand indicted; Jean-Paul Delevoye targeted by a preliminary investigation ... The year 2019 was marked by many other cases involving politicians.

• Grenelle of domestic violence

In post-France #MeToo and #BalanceTonPorc, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and Secretary of State for Gender Equality Marlène Schiappa launched, on September 3, under pressure from feminist associations who brought to light the issue of feminicides, the Grenelle of domestic violence. Three months later, the same duo announces several measures and in particular an envelope of 360 million euros exclusively devoted in 2020 to the fight against violence against women. But feminist associations are generally disappointed and criticize measures which, for a certain number of them, already exist.

• Death of Jacques Chirac

The former President of the Republic died at his home on September 26. Several tribute ceremonies are organized, and in particular a mass, on September 30, at the Saint-Sulpice church, attended by Emmanuel Macron and the ex-heads of state Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande , as well as many foreign leaders, including Vladimir Putin. Many French people want to pay a final tribute to Jacques Chirac: several thousand write a note on the guest books made available at the Élysée initially, then at the Invalides.

• Beginning of the Citizen Climate Convention

Promised by Emmanuel Macron at the end of the great national debate, the Citizen Climate Convention brings together, from October 5 and over several weekends until April 2020, 150 citizens drawn by lot to work on an issue big: how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in France by at least 40% by 2030, compared to 1990, all in a spirit of social justice? The exercise, unprecedented and unique in the world in its genre, is launched in a context of increased demand for participatory democracy. The Head of State undertook to submit "without filter" citizens' proposals either to a referendum or to Parliament.

• Immigration debate in Parliament

Promised after the great national debate by Emmanuel Macron, a debate on immigration was organized in the National Assembly on October 7, then in the Senate on October 9. A few weeks earlier, the President of the Republic set foot in a dish during a meeting with LREM parliamentarians, enjoining them not to become representatives of a "bourgeois" party like the Socialist Party, guilty according to him for letting the popular classes slip to the far right by underestimating the question of immigration. A "short-sighted" analysis, according to sociologist Gérard Mauger, which caused a stir among the majority. By wishing not to leave this subject to the National Rally and to the Republicans, the head of state is accused of playing the game of the far right. For his part, the Prime Minister declared himself open, during the debate at the Palais Bourbon, to the establishment of quotas. This will be done from the summer of 2020, announces a month later Edouard Philippe, so that "France recruits" according to his work needs.

• PMA (soon) open to all

The bioethics bill was adopted on October 15 in the National Assembly and with it medically assisted procreation (PMA) open to all women. The text, which must still be validated in the Senate in the first quarter of 2020 before returning to the deputies before the summer, mobilized against him the activists of the Manif pour tous, but the latter did not bring together as many people as during demonstrations against gay marriage in 2013. In six years, French society has evolved considerably on these subjects: more than 60% of French people support PMA for all, according to various polls.

• Arm wrestling on pension reform

While the government seemed, in September, to want to play the watch on the pension issue and wait to pass the municipal elections to propose its reform, everything accelerates in the fall. Without waiting for the detailed presentation of the bill, the CGT and other unions launched on December 5 a renewable strike in transport (RATP and SNCF), complicating the daily life of millions of French people. Despite this, they are increasingly opposed to the government's proposed pension reform, according to polls. In addition to fear of having to work longer for a lower pension, they mainly criticize him for adding a parametric reform to the systemic reform. The pivotal age of 64 is fiercely rejected, in particular by the CFDT, a union which is however favorable to a pension plan by points. The showdown between the executive and the unions should continue in 2020, with a more than uncertain outcome.

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