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They’re not done yet. There had been a steady decline in numbers. According to the Interior Ministry just 12,000 Yellow Vests took to the streets on December 29, down from 282,000 on the original November 17 protest. Many figured the movement had entered its dying days. They were wrong. Some 50,000 people turned out nationwide on the first Saturday of the New Year, followed by 80,000 last weekend for “Act IX” — named for the ninth straight weekend of protest. In other words, protesters are unimpressed with recent government concessions. Neither the scrapping of the fuel tax hike nor the bevvy of reforms unveiled last month by President Emmanuel Macron — which include the expansion of a state wage subsidy by up to €100 a month — are enough to quell the rage. After all this, two-thirds of the country still backs the movement, according to a recent poll. Meanwhile, the French president’s own approval ratings hover embarrassingly around 30 percent. Macron is far from out of the woods yet.

The Not-so-Great Debate At the heart of the government’s effort to rein in the Yellow Vest movement is the so-called “great national debate.” One of the olive branches pledged to protesters last year, the project is slated to involve a series of open forums with mayors and, eventually, the general public — both online and in person. In a highly publicized letter to the nation designed to kick off the debate, Macron announced four key areas of focus: taxes and public spending, public services, the environmental transition and democracy and citizenship. Protesters are highly skeptical — and rightfully so. The nominally independent state commission in charge of the “great debate” has already voiced concerns that Macron and his prime minister Edouard Philippe might commandeer the process, turning it into a public relations initiative. Moreover, the consultations lack real accountability mechanisms. Even if certain demands surface repeatedly — say, boosting taxes on the rich or expanding funding for public transportation — there is no guarantee they’ll be taken up by Parliament. Perhaps the most heinous part of the debate, though, is Macron’s effort to set its terms in advance. The Yellow Vests have focused on bread-and-butter economic issues and, increasingly, on what’s known as the Citizens’ Referendum Initiative, or RIC. This would allow citizens to propose and approve legislation themselves as well as recall unpopular elected officials. Macron’s open letter to the nation largely avoids these topics. It contains just one vague reference to the possibility of “more referendums” and no mention whatsoever of the popular demand of reestablishing the wealth tax his government repealed in 2017. Worse yet, the president’s letter floats the possibility of implementing immigration quotas — “annual goals defined by Parliament” — as well as “reinforcing the principles” of French secularism. Nobody is asking for this. A research study overseen by a team of sociologists, political scientists, and geographers found that Yellow Vests were largely protesting in favor of improved purchasing power, lower taxes, more equitable wealth distribution, and to show opposition to the government. Just 1 percent said they were motivated by hostility to immigration. All that said, it’s reasonable to think improved dialogue — in a general sense — marks an obvious step for a government as unpopular as this one. It might want to acknowledge that it needs to better listen to citizens. It might also consider adopting policies that actually reflect the interests of the low-to-middle-income people who continue to back this spectacular and unprecedented wave of protest.