French Voters Reject Globalism: Media Cries Foul

The French Mainstream Media has cried foul over a national survey which was held recently in response to protesters’ call for direct democracy. The media denounced the results of the survey which showed French voters reject globalism and its policies. According to the media, the national consultation was “hijacked” by “militant conservative networks”.

The online consultation was launched
by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) of France in December,
following weeks of protest by the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) movement against
Macron’s government.

Questionnaires were distributed to
all citizens whether they wore a yellow vest or not. The assembly invited
French voters to share their opinions on topics such as social inequalities,
fair taxation, regional inequalities, purchasing power, and citizen
participation.

An interesting part of the survey
covered the issue of France transitioning to a so-called “green” economy.

The CESE released the following
statement regarding the results of the national consultation:

“Based on the results of this
consultation, as well as hearings and consultations with citizens drawn by lot,
an opinion will be drawn up and submitted for debate in March 2019 to provide a
comprehensive response to issues brought up by the yellow vests.”

L’Obs magazine reported on Friday
that based on the initial polls, 47% of French voters believe that the
government will not respond to the consultation’s initiative. 

Journalist Vincent Glad, from the
liberal-left newspaper Libération, highlighted that a proposal to repeal
same-sex marriage had garnered the most votes thereby criticizing the
consultation as “a joke”.

State-owned France 24 said “The
‘success’ of conservative motions is problematic,” citing that the other
popular proposals included calls to scrap wind power subsidies and restore
family allowances to middle-income couples with multiple children.

“For some, [the results] illustrate
the dangers of Swiss-style direct democracy and the possible launch of a
Citizen Initiated Referendum demanded by many Yellow Vests.”

The Citizen Initiated Referendum
refers to a proposed initiative supported by 80 percent of the French public.

When asked whether the results of
national consultation should be considered significant, the broadcaster did not
consider the opinions of the more than 31,000 number of participants to be
impactful.