Besançon, Tours, Lyon or Lille. The Europe Ecology-The Greens party could win the town hall of several new major cities in France on Sunday June 28, after the second round of municipal elections. Today, only Grenoble is acquired by environmentalists after the 2014 election.
On March 15, Grégory Doucet came out on top (28.46%) in the capital of Gaul, as did Anne Vignot in Besançon (31.21%) or Jeanne Barseghian in Strasbourg (27.87%). In Lille, Stéphane Baly follows socialist Martine Aubry with five small points. Scores never seen before for a party hitherto confined to supporting roles, behind the socialists.
Our candidates were this afternoon alongside @yjadot, who came to support the lists of Ecologists for the Metropolis and the city of #Lyon.
📅🌿 On June 28, vote for an ecological city, a peaceful and breathable metropolis. # Municipales2020 pic.twitter.com/vdqUrXeLwu
"A spectacular dynamic"
In five years, EELV has undoubtedly gained ground. This is mainly due to the increase in the number of environmental candidates. EELV presented autonomous lists in 18 large cities (Lyon, Lille, Strasbourg), compared to 13 in 2014, but also in almost half of medium-sized cities (more than 30,000 inhabitants), such as Rosny-sous-Bois, in Paris region, or Talence and Agen in the Southwest. "A record for environmentalists", notes a study by the Foundation for political ecology on "The (unfinished) push of the Greens during the first round of municipal elections". It is a "spectacular dynamic", specifies to France 24 one of the authors of the study, Simon Persico, teacher-researcher at Sciences Po Grenoble, who reveals, according to him, "the development capacity of a party".
EELV candidates have also taken the lead on left-wing union lists in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, which has never happened before. This is particularly the case of Emmanuel Denis in Tours, who managed to gather behind him candidates ranging from La France insoumise to the Socialist Party. In Besançon, Anne Vignot took advantage of a disagreement with the team La République en Marche (LREM) to also rally the left behind her (Socialist Party, Communist Party and Generation of Benoît Hamon).
With this new configuration, EELV imposes itself as "the dominant force of the opposition", estimates Daniel Boy, director of research at Cevipof and specialist in ecology, interviewed by France 24. "We are no longer talking about a pole left-green, but very green-left ".
This rise in power is partly the result of the "disintegration of the Socialist Party, already blatant during the last elections", continues the political scientist. His decline was noted in 2017, with 6.36% of the votes collected during the presidential election, then confirmed in 2019 to the Europeans when he was allied at Place Publique (6.2%). Meanwhile, EELV signed a historic score (13.5%) ...
To confirm the dynamics of Europeans, the EELV teams have become more professional. "More attention than previously was paid to political communication, including in the choice of candidates," noted Simon Persico.
A Covid-19 effect ?
The Greens also benefit from an unprecedented sensitivity of the French to ecological issues. Themes related to global warming or ecological transition have "occupied a large place in the political and media agenda" since the fall of 2019, notes the study by the Foundation for Political Ecology.
To win the second round, EELV intends to make the health crisis linked to the coronavirus an ecological issue. "It is an ecological crisis that comes from the living, and has been aggravated by just-in-time exchanges and short-term profitability," insists the national secretary of the party, Julien Bayou, to the press.
According to a survey by the Observatory of Green Cities, seven out of ten French people believe that the development of green spaces will be one of the priority criteria for their vote in the second round of municipal elections. "The second round should remain in an environmental logic," predicts Daniel Boy.
In this context, Toulouse and Montpellier could pass under the EELV banner Sunday evening. In the pink city, Antoine Maurice, carried by a union of the left, is given the winner in several polls against the outgoing mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc. In the Hérault capital, Michaël Delafosse is also leading the race against outgoing mayor Philippe Saurel, according to an Ifop poll published in early June.
The suspense remains in Marseille, where EELV ended up supporting Michèle Rubirola for the second round. Arriving at the head in the first round, the activist EELV had been suspended one time from the party for having assembled a list of alliance with the local lefts, the Printemps Marseillais. Today, the union list of the left could delight the second city of the country for the candidate LR Martine Vassal to succeed Jean-Claude Gaudin.
Anti-environmentalist front
But the few months under cover have also left time for parties feeling threatened by a possible green wave to seal alliances. This is particularly the case in Lyon, where the outgoing Macronist mayor, Gérard Collomb, has approached the Republicans to block environmentalists. A few days before the second round, the Greens can still win, say observers.
However, it will be more difficult for Jeanne Barseghian in Strasbourg, who largely won the votes (27.87%) in Strasbourg on March 15. After the pact, "15 minutes from the deposit of the lists", between Alain Fontanel (LREM) and the candidate of the Republicans, and the absence of an agreement with the former mayor and candidate PS Catherine Trautmann, the environmental candidate n ' is more clearly preferred to prevail.
In Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic also encountered an anti-ecological front. The outgoing LR mayor, Nicolas Florian, who preceded him by 96 votes in the first round, sealed an alliance with his best enemy, the walker Thomas Cazenave, to make him barrage. Same scenario in Tours, where the candidate EELV Emmanuel Denis has to face Christophe Bouchet, candidate of the radical movement who joined forces with LREM and LR.
The outcome of the second round will be an opportunity for EELV to affirm - or not - its anchoring on a national scale. And Simon Persico concludes: "Not conquering one or a single city in addition to Grenoble would be half a failure".
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