Since December 2015, the abolition of nuclear arms has been on the agenda of the UN. An Open-Ended Working Group is bringing together governments and NGOs in Geneva to recommend to the General Assembly “ways to advance multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarmament, with a view to eventually achieving a world completely free from nuclear weapons”. But France and the other nuclear-armed states have stayed away.

Now, on the initiative of ACDN (Action des Citoyens pour le Désarmement Nucléaire) 60 French MPs and senators are calling for a referendum on this question, which has never been debated by the French people, and are proposing a bill to organise it. They need to lift their number to 185 (20% of parliamentarians) according to article 11 of the Constitution. If their colleagues respond to this call and if subsequently 10% of voters support their proposition, it will be France’s first “referendum by shared initiative” (i.e. parliament and people).

The law proposed formulates the referendum question thus:

« Do you want France to negotiate and ratify with all the States concerned a treaty to ban and completely eliminate nuclear weapons under mutual and international control that is strict and effective? »

To this question 74% of French citizens would respond YES, according to an IFOP poll carried out in October 2015. Similarly, 75% of them wish to be consulted by referendum on this question, and 74% say they are willing to support the parliamentary initiative if it goes ahead.

The first MPs and Senators to sign this call for a referendum and this bill are named here (with the département of each):

Laurence ABEILLE (94), Brigitte ALLAIN (24), Sylviane ALAUX (64), Pouria AMRSHAHI (HdF 9°Circ.)*, Isabelle ATTARD (14), Danielle AUROI (63), Serge BARDY (49), Michel BILLOUT (S.77)**, Christophe BOUILLON (76), Kheïra BOUZIANE-LAROUSSI, Jean-Pierre BOSINO (S60), Sabine BUIS (07), Jean-Jacques CANDELIER (59), Fanélie CARREY-CONTE (75), Jean-Michel CLEMENT (86), Laurence COHEN (S94), Sergio CORONADO (HdF3°C)**, Jean-Jacques COTTEL (62), Pascale CROZON (69), Cécile CUKIERMAN (S42), Yves DANIEL (44), Ronan DANTEC (S.44), Michelle DEMESSINE (S.59), Fanny DOMBRE COSTE (34), Cécile DUFLOT (75), William DUMAS (30), Martine FAURE (33), Hervé FERON (54), Geneviève GAILLARD (79), André GATTOLIN (92), Joël GIRAUD (05), Linda GOURJADE (81), Jean GRELLIER (79), Edith GUEUGNEAU (71), Conchita LACUEY (33), François-Michel LAMBERT (13), Jérôme LAMBERT (16), Pierre LAURENT (S75), Annick LE LOCH (29), Bernard LESTERLIN (03), Serge LETCHIMY (972), Noël MAMERE (33), Jean-René MARSAC (35), Véronique MASSONNEAU (86), Paul MOLAC (56), Philippe NOGUES (56), Dominique ORLIAC (46), Hervé PELLOIS (56), Philippe PLISSON (33), Elisabeth POCHON (93), Christophe PREMAT (HdF2°C)*, Catherine QUERE (17), Marie-Line REYNAUD (16), Barbara ROMAGNAN (25), Jean-Louis ROUMEGAS (34), Maina SAGE (987), Eva SAS (91), Gabriel SERVILLE (973), Suzanne TALLARD (17), Cécile UNTERMAIER (71).

(*) French Citizens Living Abroad
(**) S = Senator

Appeal for a French referendum on France participating in the abolition of Nuclear Weapons

To be signed and sent to ACDN contact@acdn.net

First signatories:

Noam Chomsky, retired professor, MIT
Bill Kidd, Glasgow’s MP at the Scottish Parliament, Copresident of PNND
Yehuda Ataï & Gideon Spiro, Cofounders, Israeli Committee for a Middle East wtihout Weapons of Mass Destruction
David Krieger, Founder President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Alice Slater, Cofounder, Abolition 2000 Network
Beatrice Fihn, Director, International Campaign Against Nuclear weapons (ICAN)
Tim Wright, ICAN Australia
Aaron Tovish, Vision 2020 campaigner, Mayors for Peace
John Hallam & Peter King, Cofounders, Human Survival Project & International Peoples Tribunal on the Nuclear Powers and the Destruction of Human Civilisation
Greg Mello, Los Alamos Study Group, USA
Tarja Cronberg, Chair, Finish Peace Union
Joseph Rodgers, Alliance for Nuclear Accountbility (ANA), USA
Xanthe Hall, Co-Director, IPPNW Germany
Mikael Lindgren, Policy Advisor, Church of Sweden
Richard Lennane, Wildfire Inflammatory Officer, Wildfire Organisation
Phyllis Creighton, former board and executive member of Project Ploughshares and Science for Peace
Kathy Wan Povi Sanchez, Tewa Women United, NM USA
Steven Starr, Senior Scientist, Physicians for Social Responsibility