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This week

• 🌲Macron: France must “double” CO2 reductions

• 🇧🇫France to withdraw from Burkina Faso

• 🛴Hidalgo’s referendum on the Trottinette in Paris

• ✋The PS gets its house in order (for now…)

🌲Macron: France must “double” CO2 reductions

Following an ecology planning council during the week, it looks like an improve is required from the French state.

This Saturday, Emmanuel Macron made it clear that France would have to “double our efforts” to reduce carbon emissions and meet its 2030 objectives. “Today, we are not there yet. And if we don't change things, we won't get there.”

“If we want to reach our 2030 target, we must go to 270 million tonnes of CO ₂ emitted, which means that between now and 2030, we must drop by [our current emissions] 140 million tonnes … which means that we simply have to double the rate of effort compared to what we have done in the last five years.”

Macron praised the fact that French efforts “in the past five years…have been twice as fast as before”, despite criticism that action during his first quinquennat had been insufficient or substandard.

Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron

Nos émissions de CO2 baissent. Mais pas assez vite. Pour réussir, il nous faut doubler nos efforts. Ce sera difficile, mais ensemble nous en sommes capables. Avec la planification écologique, nous allons mener ce qui doit être bien plus qu'une transition : une bascule.

10:32 AM ∙ Jan 28, 2023

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2,962Likes663Retweets

“Our CO2 emissions are falling. But not fast enough. To succeed, we must double our efforts. It will be difficult, but together we can do it. With ecological planning, we are going to carry out what must be much more than a transition: a shift.”

With his call that French efforts around agriculture “must go much further, much harder to reduce our emissions”, he made it clear that there would be a plan developed in June to do this, as well as a future law supporting the installation of young farmers.

Alongside this, there will also be intensified efforts to produce electric vehicles entirely in France, in an attempt to not only support the ecological efforts but also to future-proof the french automotive industry, and attempt to become a leader in EV production.

🇧🇫France to withdraw from Burkina Faso

The notice finally reached the French government on Wednesday 25 January, with the Burkina Faso government officially denouncing the 2018 defence agreement that had allowed France to station 400 members of its special forces near Ouagadougou.

“We formally received the denunciation, by the Burkinabé government, of the 2018 agreement relating to the status of the French forces present in this country…In accordance with the terms of the agreement, the denunciation shall take effect one month after receipt of the written notification. We will comply with the terms of this agreement by complying with this request.”

This is only a small part of the now long-term drama between the French (and European) state(s) and those in the Sahel, despite the efforts that were made during Operate Barkhane between 2014 and 2022.

There’s a question lingering around the topic here which will be abused by right-wing populists and anti-globalists: why did France and other states European states expend so much effort, so much money, and so many lives in the region to only end up being rejected in favour of juntas and Russian mercenaries.

For now, a portion of these soldiers is being considered for transfer to Niger as part of the forces there, with further decisions to be made on geopolitical action to be taken in the region.

This will be covered by a future dispatch, so stay tuned!

🛴Hidalgo’s referendum on the Trottinette in Paris

We’ve all walked around our cities, spending our time trying to manoeuvre around the sidewalk jungle gym that is formed by the twisted pieces of motorised metal that have been abandoned by people who, very clearly, lack either spatial awareness or manners.

However, the city of Paris will be asked to vote on a 2nd April referendum on allowing these vehicles to continue to be allowed in the streets of the city, with socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo using this to give herself a way of recovering from recent failures.

Surprising everybody with the announcement, which did not include any specifics on the modality, this is almost the first time that the city has had such a referendum, aside from one on the climate plan back in 2018.

It will undoubtedly cause concerns amongst the majority who will be afraid of citizen disaffection, with many having gotten used to using the 15,000 trottinettes available to get around more cheaply and easily than using the more static busses.

Some of Hidalgo’s socialist colleagues and allies have come out strongly against the move. Rémi Féraud, a socialist senator from Paris, decried an act of power from above:

“Organizing a vote, I don't see how you can be against it. We cannot blame Anne Hidalgo for everything and its opposite: an authoritarian practice of power and her desire to ask Parisians for their opinion”

The opposition forces are less than pleased to be seeing Hidalgo focusing on something considered so small, rather than something more important like potholes or the garbage situation.

However, as Hidalgo continues to attempt to recover from a disastrous Presidential campaign, she continues to take actions she hopes will clean up her image as someone who works in concert with her colleagues as opposed to being someone with a top-down approach.

This is why this initiative went from being a top-down ban of these scooters to being a referendum where Hidalgo would vote “no” but would “respect the vote of Parisians” who are expected to vote for the ban.

✋The PS gets its house in order (for now…)

The ongoing drama over the leadership of the Parti Socialiste (PS) is now over, with negotiations between the incumbent First Secretary Olivier Faure and his challenger, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol.

Last week, saw a farcical event, where Faure and Mayer-Rossignol were fighting over a divisive result, announcing contrasting results, with videos of people being refused access to ballots, and with claims of corruption surrounding the Faure.

We’ve since seen the PS go into a period of intense politicking, with negotiations going on early on the morning of Saturday 28 January, with a “collective governance pact” finally being adopted at 15h00 pm on that very day.

The result? Olivier Faure maintains his position as the First Secretary, while Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol has become the first deputy secretary. Hélène Geoffroy, the third-place challenger and leader of the anti-NUPES candidates, will take over the presidency of the national council, also known as the PS internal parliament.

Already in a dire situation, still limping after its losses in 2017 and 2022, as well as its damaging position as a junior position in Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s NUPES coalition, people were not convinced by the rivals hugging and kissing each other as they met.

Regardless, the truce will likely not last over the long term.

Already, the various camps are fighting over the power within, with Faure’s camp stating unequivocally that there will be no “collegial direction” in the management of the PS, with Mayer-Rossignol expected to let the First Secretary take the lead.

This is despite Faure claiming that the new management would operate as “collegially as possible by seeking consensus”.

But we will see what the real result will be.

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