Paris (AFP)

Fractured, devitalized since its elimination in the first round of the presidential election of 2017, the Socialist Party, which one would almost forget that it was the great force of the left, is now betting on ecology and the social to become audible again.

Halfway through the mandate of Emmanuel Macron, the party which knew how to bring François Mitterrand, Lionel Jospin and François Hollande to power puts forward ideas. Olivier Faure, the First Secretary promised a speech on secularism. Three "refoundation forums" are also on the program for 2020, after that on rurality, and should concern "health or public services", according to spokesperson Pierre Jouvet.

But for now, the PS does not weigh much in the debate, even if the news of pensions has given it the opportunity to position itself alongside unions and other left parties, at the forefront of mobilizations.

The most severe criticisms come from former emblematic figures. "The PS did not take up any of the ideas that I developed during my campaign for 2007" on "participatory democracy" or "just order", regrets Ségolène Royal with AFP.

"The left, the PS in particular, lives on a completely outmoded cultural and political pattern," says Stéphane Le Foll, former Minister of Agriculture for François Hollande. "There is a lack of thinking heads when there is an ideological work to do", asserts the author of a recent essay entitled "Progress or sobriety: which growth to adopt?".

- "Dynamite the PS" -

According to Juliette Méadel, "we must dynamite the PS", which has become "hermetic to the expectations of the population". This ex-minister left the PS in 2016 when Benoît Hamon won the primary before failing in the presidential election with a catastrophic 6.4% of the vote. Today, "everything must be reviewed in the light of ecology," says the young woman, who comes to Montrouge (Hauts-de-Seine) to the municipal as "free candidate".

François Hollande himself poses a severe diagnosis on a party of which he was the First Secretary for eleven years. "The PS broke up when we wanted to impose a primary on an outgoing president, which was absurd. It lost its culture of government when a rebellious won this primary. It was erased when in the Europeans (6, 2% in May, its worst score in this election), they designate a head of the list who was not socialist ", in the person of Raphaël Glucksmann, founder of Place Publique.

"The 2008 crisis, combined with the rise of populism, has impacted social democracy, which is declining everywhere", adds the ex-president who wants to believe, however: "the reformist left has the capacity to raise the three great challenges of inequality, climate and democracy. Provided that you clearly state your ideas and are embodied. "

- "New paradigm" -

The young party executives want to take up this challenge. We must build "the broadest possible alliance, secular, republican, social and environmentalist," insists MP Boris Vallaud.

"After the municipal elections, it will be necessary to go beyond to rebuild a government left. The PS has no chance of reimposing itself", confirms their eldest, the former MEP Henri Weber, who wishes, like Bernard Cazeneuve, "make environmental and climate issues the new paradigm of leftist identity".

On this issue, the former Prime Minister warns his political family. "The French left would go astray by contenting itself with a simple + greenwashing + operation," he wrote in a contribution to Le Débat magazine, dated September-October.

It would still be necessary for the left to want to come together and for the Greens, in particular, to want to make an alliance with the socialists. It is far from being won. For the time being, EELV prefers to play its part, with the top names in almost all the big cities of France for the municipal ones, the glance riveted around 2022.

The recent rapprochement between PS, the Greens and the Communists on the privatization of ADP or even pensions is raising the hopes of some.

"We will have to reach adulthood and stop looking at the navel," says Faure. "If we are able to overcome reluctance and bitterness, we can together build an offer" alternative for 2022, he wants to believe.

© 2019 AFP