French prez Macron says Greta Thunberg will 'antagonize societies' after she sues France on greenhouse emission issue
French President Emmanuel Macron on September 23 warned that climate activist Greta Thunberg is "radical" and will possibly "antagonize societies" after she filed a lawsuit against France and four other countries over their greenhouse gas emissions levels.
Reports state that the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist filed a complaint with the United Nations shortly after making an impassioned speech while addressing world leaders at the Climate Action Summit in 2019 in New York on September 23.
Thunberg had posted a tweet accusing five countries of violating human rights by not taking adequate action in an effort to cut greenhouse gas levels to the goal set by the Paris climate agreement in 2015. The other countries included in the petition are Germany, Turkey, Brazil, and Argentina. The suit was reportedly filed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child treaty.
Macron, in response to the complaint, said the teenager's decision was "very radical" and would likely "antagonize societies", adding that he did not feel like France was "blocking" climate action, according to Europe 1.
"All the movements of our youth — or our not-so-young — are helpful," he said. "But they must now focus on those who are furthest away, those who are seeking to block the way." Macron also said that he did not feel "that the French government nor the German government, currently, were blocking the way."
"When I see that we are going to shut down all of our coal operations, stop the exploitation of hydrocarbons, that we are moving, I am not sure that this is the most efficient way," the French leader said.
Macron's statement comes after Thunberg's fiery speech at the United Nations Climate Summit on September 23, where she broke down while slamming the international delegates present there for their inaction.
"I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words," the Swedish activist said in her speech. "There will not be any solution or plans in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you're not mature enough to tell it like it is. You are failing us. The young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you," she said.