French Citizens’ Assembly

In January 2019, in the midst of the Yellow Vest protests triggered by the rise of the eco-tax, the Gilets Citoyens and Democratie Ouverte handed to president Emmanuel Macron a proposal to create Citizens’ Assembly for climate. In July 2019, the Prime Minister Edouard Philippe nominated the Conseil Economique Social et Environnemental to organise the Convention.

Among its 149 proposals, the 150 randomly selected citizens in the Citizen’s Assembly called for three referendums: two constitutional changes and one to introduce the crime of ecocide in the French penal code. The Ecodice law got written into law in 2021.

Another suggestion of the Assembly was changing the preamble of the Constitution by adding the following clause:  “The reconciliation of the resulting rights, freedoms and principles must not compromise the preservation of the environment, the common heritage of mankind”

Read more about the French Citizens’ Assembly for the Climate on its homepage: Site officiel de la Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat

and

https://www.democracy-international.org/final-propositions-french-citizens-convention-climate

https://www.dw.com/en/frances-citizen-climate-assembly-a-failed-experiment/a-56528234