The CESE, this poorly-liked and misunderstood chamber, the third, alongside the National Assembly and the Senate, will be turning 80 years old this year.
The CESE is located at the Palace of Iéna, just a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower. It represents civil society, intermediary bodies such as trade unions, employers, associations, mutuals, etc., who President Emmanuel Macron should have consulted to avoid the Yellow Vest crisis. The CESE is where citizen conventions on climate, end-of-life issues, and school schedules have been experimented with.
Thierry Beaudet, its president, is finishing his 5-year term. The campaign to succeed him is intensifying, and for the first time, a woman could come out on top in the vote by the 175 members of the CESE on May 20th. A certain Claire Thoury, heading the Associative Movement, led the convention on end-of-life issues.
“The problem of our time is that we no longer debate… After Covid, we were afraid to talk about vaccines, and now we don’t talk about politics or religion: we are always afraid, as if conflict were paralyzing. What we did for 4 months during the citizen convention on end-of-life issues was create spaces of disagreements.” Claire Thoury, on France Inter, June 8th
Disagreement organized to give birth to consensus… Far from the noise of the National Assembly. Claire Thoury represents the voice of associations (1.4 million in France) and volunteers (over 20 million!). Another woman who may enter the race is Dominique Carlac’h, former spokesperson and vice president of Medef. Another profile from the business world.
The CESE suffers from lack of visibility, with its activities deemed insufficient, to the point that Jordan Bardella, if he comes to power, has promised its abolition, which could only be achieved by revising the Constitution. Outgoing CESE president Thierry Beaudet warns.
“It would be to say to the 60,000 citizens who have participated in the work of the Council over the past 5 years, that their opinion doesn’t interest us. Ultimately, it would be absurd to deprive ourselves of one of the last places in the Republic where we can continue to debate in a calm and respectful manner.”
Cost of the chamber? 34 million euros per year. Equivalent to 0.007% of the state budget. Alongside the Court of Auditors, the Bank of France, or the Council of State, the CESE is another institution whose importance will be felt if Marine Le Pen or Jordan Bardella enter the Elysée next year.
