Florent Gougou, Senior Lecturer, and Simon Persico, Professor of Political Science, at Sciences Po Grenoble and the Pacte laboratory

Since October 2019, 150 citizens were selected by lot to take part in the Citizens' Climate Convention (CCC). Their mission statement was to "define structuring measures structuring measures to achieve, in a spirit of social justice, a reduction reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels".

The CCC is a major democratic innovation, inspired by the theories of citizen deliberation. For six months, its members had the time to learn, debate and exchange ideas - in short, to forge an informed, well-argued opinion and formulate proposals. Their discussions reflect the tensions that structure French society. The proposals they formulate will therefore be of great importance and democratic quality.

From From June 19 to 21, the CCC will meet for the last time to decide which legal processes will be used to implement the proposals arising from its work, between the regulatory, parliamentary and legal channels. between regulatory, parliamentary and referendum referendum. These routes are not exclusive be mobilized in parallel to transform the proposals into new proposals into new legal standards. Each of these routes has advantages and disadvantages.

Going down the regulatory or legislative route increases the chances that the CCC's proposals will go unheeded, joining the thousands of proposals put forward by the various committees and commissions that have punctuated the history of the Fifth Republic. This is why we feel that the referendum route is an historic opportunity to bring this unprecedented moment of deliberative democracy to a close with a process of direct democracy, during which the French people could take up the issues of climate and social justice - and decide their future together. This is what a referendum is all about.

The decision to hold a referendum says nothing, however, about the form the referendum would take or the questions that would actually be asked. asked. That's why we believe it's important that that the citizens gathered in the CCC obtain the holding of a decision-making referendum, on several proposals that are not that are not consensual, constitutional constitutional or symbolic.

A decision-making referendum: consultative referendums offer no guarantee that the choice expressed at the ballot box will be implemented. expressed at the ballot box. It is vital for the functioning of democracy that the people's vote is translated into legal norms.

A multi-issue referendum: This system would prevent a single omnibus bill, comprising multiple be rejected in a referendum because only one of the proposals is opposed by the people the people's opposition, thereby invalidating all the proposals. proposals. This would also improve the quality of democratic debate and the quality of democratic debate and guard against the "plebiscitary" practice of referendum - when the people do not vote "for" or "against" the text the text put to the vote, but "for" or "against" the President of the Republic. "the President of the Republic, who decided to organize the referendum. to organize the referendum.

A referendum on directly applicable directly applicable and not just on major consensual, symbolic and/or consensual, symbolic and/or constitutional principles. of course increases the risk of opposition, but the state of opinion on ecological on the challenges of ecological transition. Above all, it ensures direct implementation of transformative proposals, when symbolic or symbolic or constitutional texts have a more limited impact on the reality of the on the reality of ecological and social transition.

Ultimately, the choice of how to validate the proposals proposals and the forms a referendum might take will be a political choice. political choice. It depends on the preferences of a number of players - the citizens making up the Convention Convention and the President of the Republic, of course, but also the Prime Minister, his government and members of parliament. If the Convention wants to maximize its chances of implementing the proposals proposals that emerge from its work, and to make this new instrument of democratic democratic decision-making, it is vital that it takes (and is given) the time to time to discuss the modalities of their validation, and that it adopts clear clear positions on the next steps in the process, and to defend these positions in the positions in the dialogue with the executive. 

All those who want to see Covid-19 emerge from the crisis in a way that is not not be a return to the "abnormal", must grasp the importance of this the importance of this political moment. Although the CCC's proposals are not yet all are not yet all known, they are in line with the dozens of tribunes and published in recent weeks, urging us to transform our modes of development to transform our modes of development to make them more sustainable and solidarity. The political landing of the Citizens' Convention is a crucial step in this battle.

Under the conditions we have described, a referendum would enable French public policies, and society as a whole, to embark on a genuine transition trajectory.

This analysis is a summary of an article published in La Vie des Idées on May 29, 2020.