Why Macron didn’t dare venture too far into democratic territory

After being defeated by the far right in recent European elections, French President Emmanuel Macron has gone to the country, calling on voters to elect a new parliament on June 30 and July 7. But despite this seemingly democratic gesture, Macron has done very little to meet citizens’ expectations with regard to direct and participatory democracy. The fact passed almost unnoticed in the general uproar after Macron dissolved the National Assembly on June 10. As parliament’s work drew to an abrupt halt, so did discussions around a new end-of-life bill – whether temporarily or for good remains to be seen. This debate, which raises the issue of assisted dying for the first time in France, was the subject of a citizens’ convention last year, in which 184 randomly selected French men and women came together to talk about and work on the question. “You, as citizens, have chosen to be trained, to discuss and to learn within a fair and open framework,” Macron exclaimed at the end of the ...