French president proposes revising constitution to expand and simplify use of referendums and secure constitutional right to abortion

French President Emmanuel Macron pitched his bid to revise the constitution to extend and simplify the use of referendums on [4 October] and reiterated his goal of securing a constitutional right to abortion despite needing backing from other parties to make his pitch a reality. [...] The proposed reforms “will also make it possible to respond to the democratic aspirations of our time”, Macron said on [4 October]. “The scope of referendums must be opened up”, he added, saying this would “enable citizens to be more involved and more closely associated” with decision-making. [...] In his speech, the president also said he was in favour of simplifying the use of the “joint initiative referendum” (RIP), which is considered too restrictive in its current form. Under the current rules, a petition can only be considered by parliament if it is signed by one-tenth of the electorate, corresponding to around 4.9 million signatures. [...] However, it remains uncertain whether Macron’s bid for a constitutional review will go through, as the process is lengthy and requires large majorities.
Read the full article here: EURACTIV