This time, we find him at home in his pavilion in Épron (Calvados), his feet planted in the Norman mud but with his eternal Air Max sneakers, the same ones he wore in the ministries or in the gardens of the Elysée. .
“I don't see why I would introduce myself otherwise,” he replies.
Grégoire Fraty, 32, specialist in vocational training, is one of 150 French people to have been drawn to participate in the Citizen's Convention for the Climate.
In a crisp book which comes out Thursday, February 4 (“Moi, Citoyen”, co-written with Ondine Khayat, First éditions), he tells the behind the scenes of this adventure, while the “Climate” bill, resulting from the proposals of the 150, will be presented to the Council of Ministers on February 10.
Originally, not really green
The thirty-something claims it, he has done everything to concoct a simple life focused on his wife and his two-year-old daughter Agathe: "By teleworking long before it was the rule, by refusing better paid but time-consuming jobs, by ruling out a too demanding associative commitment, ”he assumes.
Basically, his credo has long been “to live happily, let's live in hiding”.
Not really green, far from the turmoil of French political life.
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All the more so since the year preceding the Convention, when he became a father, his wife declared a very serious illness, from which she had recovered.
“I didn't get my head out of the water,” he says.
I was not really aware of the movement of yellow vests, nor seen anything of the Great debate.
".
His draw changed that.
After “a climatic slap”, he co-created the “150”, the association to ensure the follow-up of the Convention's proposals.
He is currently meeting deputies and senators.
This “French lambda”, as he characterizes himself, also intervened “in I do not know how many high schools by video to talk about participatory democracy”.
A very strange text
In September 2019, Grégoire received a very strange SMS, entitled “Citizen's Convention for the Climate”.
Grégoire has just been drawn but he first thinks that it is an advertisement.
He even hesitates to send "STOP" to reject this request, which disturbs him in the middle of a professional presentation.
Finally, he replies by text that he agrees to participate and… nothing happens.
So, Grégoire documents himself: "The articles speak of 300,000 numbers selected for only 150 drawn at random," he recalls.
I thought that I had not been selected and that I would follow the adventure of the lucky ones in the press.
"
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Then, he is contacted by the body in charge of constituting this mini France, which wants to check his profile and explain the Convention more to him: weekends to be blocked, care, the letter for his employer.
He then signs for six sessions from Friday morning to Sunday evening, from September to February.
There will eventually be eight and many virtual meetings.
Stayed in a Parisian hotel
October 4, first session: Grégoire goes to Paris and discovers the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), which will host the debates.
It's like “back to school where you don't know anyone,” he rewinds.
In this green class, the “150” are grouped by age group.
"I immediately turned to someone of my generation who had been given a blue badge like me, as if we were from the same team", still laughs Grégoire.
Let's go for exciting and sometimes endless work sessions.
And after ?
The 150 were mostly housed in the same Parisian hotel.
“The first evening, going down to the bar, I took on two Russians on the climate!
»Laughs Grégoire.
Since then, he has clearly identified the members of the Convention and made “friends for life” there.
One of the moments that marked the spirits took place at 5 o'clock in the morning, when during the third session, the hotel alarm sounded: “Everyone went out and despite the fatigue, we laughed a lot when he saw some Bugs Bunny pajamas and… the couples who left the same room, ”says Grégoire.
Emmanuel Macron, not really invited
The book also lifts the veil on the mechanisms and squeaks of the Convention.
So when Emmanuel Macron presents himself in January 2020 in front of the citizens, all imagine that he answered the invitation of the Convention.
Not at all, "the call actually came from only one person", explains Grégoire.
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At the rostrum, in front of all the citizens, the journalists and the public, a citizen, who simply had to summarize previous episodes, announces that the 150 wish to meet the President.
"This created a lot of turmoil internally", confides the citizen, freed from the discretion that he had imposed on himself.
Marion Cotillard's “real commitment”
For their mission, the 150 citizens auditioned a whole gallery of VIPs that Grégoire sketches in his book.
There is Nicolas Hulot, “too human”, as the member of the Convention describes it “with a certain tenderness”.
At the rostrum, the former Minister of Ecology paints a grim picture and lists the reasons for his failure in government.
"His speech did not help us much," said the Normand.
There is Emmanuel Macron "met three times and whom we should see again", specifies Grégoire, impressed by the head of state.
“A political animal, a real one!
He breathes.
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In the register of glamor and glitter, the citizens also crossed the Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard with "the real commitment" and the director Cyril Dion.
The draw was clearly disappointed by the latter, yet appointed guarantor of this assembly: “I salute the activist but in my opinion he did not make a good guarantor.
He has sometimes appropriated the word of the 150 while we are all trying to play together, ”he said.
Among the most offbeat anecdotes, Grégoire also recounts the meeting with the new Prime Minister, Jean Castex.
The meeting is held under a beautiful tree in the gardens of Matignon.
Beginner's mistake, because the birds that nest there repeatedly "decorate" the jacket of the head of government.
Dates to remember
April 2019: the President of the Republic announces this democratic experience at the end of the Great Debate.
He promises to pass "without filter" their proposals to the French.
October 4, 2019: launch of the Citizen's Climate Convention.
January 10, 2020: Macron is received for the first time by this assembly.
June 29, 2020: the Convention delivers its 149 measures in the gardens of the Elysée.
February 10, 2021: the text will be presented to the Council of Ministers.