Dear Charles,
There is clearly a French problem with climate-related measures, particularly taxes: in 2015, when the government tried to implement an environmental tax on trucks, the “red bonnets” movement blocked Brittany and other parts of the country, which resulted in the government withdrawing the measure; in 2019, when the government tried to implement a carbon tax on fuel, the “yellow vests” movement blocked the whole country for a couple of months, with the same result. This has little to do specifically with Macron and the citizens’ panel. The fact that France is among the countries with the highest tax rates in the world, does not make new taxes very popular measures, even if the population is overall accepting of high taxes. But this is not the real issue. It has more to do with increasing distrust of the population towards the political elite and the amplifying effect of media, traditional and social alike. For this reason, the government proposed resorting to a random panel of citizens, but this is already being criticized. On the one hand, the government stated that they will not be able to directly implement everything that comes out from that panel. This is understandable, because there are many technicalities and the proposed measures need to be assessed also against other sectoral policies, such as social security, healthcare, labor, finance, etc. On the other hand, this mere fact does not help increase trust in the government, making the panel look like a setup, even if I very much admire their work and value their conclusions. This is true not only for climate change. You can compare for example pools about public opinion about the way the French and British governments are dealing with the coronavirus crisis. Even if Paris probably dealt better than London with the crisis, the British seem to be more understanding of their government’s choices than the French! However, in my opinion, there is another problem, which is more profound. In general, for the vast majority of the population living in France, right now quality of life is excellent. When you ask French people about the future of the country, they are usually pessimistic. However, if you ask them about their current situation, they are usually quite positive. Hell, it’s the others! L’enfer, c’est les autres ! My understanding is that many people feel that departure from the present situation will worsen of their situation. This makes the French relatively conservative, whatever revolutionary discourse they may have in public. French extremist parties to the left or right side of the political spectrum hold conservative, even regressive discourses. Paradoxically, those in favor of change are more center-left and center-right, with cosmopolitanism, laissez-faire and environmentalism being the main change discourses in the political debate. I had written a short piece <https://www.sciencespo.fr/ceri/fr/content/dossiersduceri/la-france-face-aux-defis-ecologiques-et-climatiques> in French on these issues in the run-up to the 2017 presidential elections. You will find a lot of opinion pieces in French journals, newspapers, and other publications, but I am not aware of a rigorous analysis of the overall problem with climate-related policy in France. There have been doctoral theses and research projects about pieces of the puzzle, but the overall picture is rather complex to analyze. Right now, climate seems far from being a political priority, unless measures are acceptable for the general population and not just the 30% that can vote and win elections, but also the 5% or 80% that can block the country with a strike. At the local level, this translates in climate plans being put on the side in favor of plans to save energy, promote renewables, and improve housing. This is all good for climate, but climate-related goals seem to be fading in the background, victim of the fear of yet another strike. In my opinion, there is no clear way forward. In any case, the French know that, mainly thanks to their nuclear program, they have among the lowest carbon footprints in the EU. Is France really a priority in the EU vis-à-vis other countries such as Germany and Poland with much higher carbon footprints per capita? In reality, the only relevant structural debate on climate change in France right now is the future of its nuclear program, which by the way I feel strongly against, and its possible alternatives, like in Germany. Unfortunately, that debate is also not really taking place with no clear way forward other than socio-technical path dependency to nuclear power. Best regards, Jon Jon Marco Church, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sustainability Governance Deputy Director of the Argonne “Rural Environment” LTSER Project Platform (ZARG) University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne HABITER - BP 30 - 57 rue Pierre Taittinger - 51571 Reims Cedex, France Tel. : (+33) (0)3 26 91 37 45 - <http://www.univ-reims.fr/> www.univ-reims.fr/habiter New publication: The Project of a LTSER Site Driven by Civil Society in the Argonne, Sustainability Research in the Upper Rhine Region, http://pus.unistra.fr/fr/livre/?GCOI=28682100634980 From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Charles Chester Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 4:26 AM To: GEP-Ed List <[email protected]> Subject: [gep-ed] Question regarding France, climate change & deliberate democracy Hi gep-eders, One of my students recently forwarded to me this article <https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/04/rando-democracy-bites-france.php> from a conservative news outlet on France, climate change & deliberate (or “random,” as the author puts it) democracy. To summarize the article: Macron’s a moron for letting climate advocates usurp reasonable policies with out-of-touch and unattainable goals.... I ran a quick look for analysis (academic or otherwise) of the situation, but came up with not much. If anyone has any insights or literature on this, I’d very much appreciate it. All best, Charlie Chester ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New email address: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> GEP-guide.net <http://gep-guide.net> • BCI <http://batcon.org> • Y2Y <http://Y2Y.net> • Brandeis <http://www.brandeis.edu/programs/environmental/> • Fletcher <https://sites.tufts.edu/cierp/> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/1F169338-CBE3-421C-84C4-059C5CCB84BB%40gep-guide.net <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/1F169338-CBE3-421C-84C4-059C5CCB84BB%40gep-guide.net?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/033401d62ef9%244977f120%24dc67d360%24%40univ-reims.fr.
