Paris (AFP)

EELV environmentalists are able to win several big cities in the second round of municipal elections on June 28 and thus take a major step in their history. But they must overcome the uncertainties introduced by the coronavirus crisis.

The Greens have undeniably won their bet on the evening of the first round on March 15, achieving in urban centers scores never seen before for a party hitherto confined to secondary roles at the local level, behind the socialists.

Either by taking the lead in a more or less successful union (Toulouse, Grenoble, Bordeaux, Besançon) or by presenting an autonomous list (Lyon, Lille, Strasbourg), EELV has asserted itself as the most dynamic force on the left, even if the PS and the PCF showed good resistance.

The performance was favored by "unprecedented visibility of ecological issues" in the campaign, points out a study by teacher-researchers at Sciences Po Grenoble Florent Gougou and Simon Persico for the Fondation de l'Écologie politique.

However, EELV will have to bring up these themes again after the three-month hiatus due to the coronavirus crisis, which gave outgoing mayors the lead role.

"A health crisis can generate conservative reflexes, and we have conservative opponents", admits Grégory Doucet, who with 28.5% of the votes came first in Lyon. "There is real political work to explain that the health crisis is the symptom of a more general crisis," he said.

So, the national secretary of EELV Julien Bayou repeats interview after interview that "it is an ecological crisis which comes from the living, and has been aggravated by just-in-time exchanges and short-term profitability".

Jeanne Barseghian, who far outperformed her competitors in Strasbourg with almost 28%, adds: "Ecological aspirations have been reinforced with the health crisis, the closure of the markets has been very badly experienced, it was difficult to obtain fresh products and there is therefore a desire to consume local, organic, healthy ".

- The Marseille surprise -

But the crisis may also have had this unfortunate consequence for environmentalists to allow time for the alliances between the right and LREM to form, real obstacles in the conquest of town halls.

Jeanne Barseghian will be perhaps the most obvious victim, she who confides the "shock" that represented the pact, "15 minutes from the deposit of the lists", between Alain Fontanel (LREM) and the candidate of the Republicans.

In the absence of an agreement with the former mayor and PS candidate Catherine Trautmann, she is no longer clearly the favorite to win. "Everything had to be done to prevent the environmentalists from winning," she plagues.

Pierre Hurmic made the same observation in Bordeaux. Only 96 voices of difference separated him in the first round from outgoing LR mayor Nicolas Florian. But this one concluded an alliance with the walker Thomas Cazenave. "The two adversaries of yesterday, who waged a very tough campaign against each other, have become the best friends in the world," said Mr. Hurmic.

In Lyon, the media maneuver of the former socialist and walker Gérard Collomb, who has allied with the right, relaunches the battle for the metropolis, which Bruno Bernard dominated until then.

But the inter-tower did not provide only bad news to environmentalists who also count on Eric Piolle to keep the town hall of Grenoble, the only big city currently managed by Greens.

In Toulouse, Antoine Maurice, who with 27.5% bottoming outgoing LR Jean-Luc Moudenc, benefited from the rallying of the PS, the PCF and Generations to complete his alliance with LFI in a "Citizen Archipelago".

In Marseilles, the official candidate of EELV Sébastien Barles is aligned behind the union of the left, carried by ... the ecologist Michèle Rubirola, arrived at the head in March, and which has serious chances to overthrow the heiress of Jean-Claude Gaudin, Martine Vassal (LR).

After many bickering on the left in the months preceding the first round, environmentalists are doing well in Marseille and the conquest of the second city of France would produce a resounding thunderclap.

© 2020 AFP