ANALYSIS
They can shout "victory": environmentalists made a real green breakthrough on Sunday during the second round of municipal elections. The Europe Ecology-The Greens party, locally allied to other left-wing parties, has toppled important town halls, such as those of Bordeaux, Lyon and even Marseille (where the mayors of the sector have yet to vote), symbols of these good scores. municipal. And while Emmanuel Macron and Édouard Philippe receive the 150 members of the Citizen's Climate Convention on Monday, environmentalists are savoring a political weight that they had never had until now.
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It all started a little before 8 p.m. As a symbol, the outgoing mayor of Poitiers, Alain Claeys (PS), recognized his defeat against the environmentalist Léonore Moncond'huy, aged 30. A victory followed by several others, some won in the main cities of France: Marseille with Michèle Rubirola, the city of Lyon with Grégory Doucet, the metropolis of Lyon with Bruno Bernard, Bordeaux with Pierre Hurmic, Strasbourg with Jeanne Barseghian… And it s '' It took very little for environmentalists to also take the town hall of Lille, finally kept by Martine Aubry for a fifth term.
Unknown faces that impose themselves
"What is important are the big cities that fall into the hands of personalities unknown to the general public," observes Laetitia Krupa, specialist in political communication and guest of Europe 1 Sunday evening. "New faces will emerge from this force which, perhaps, promises to be a pivotal party for the great left-wing formation that is being born."
Ecology will prevail in all future discussions
Europe Ecology-The Greens, however, has come a long way. "This party left bloodless after the quinquennium of François Hollande," said the expert. "It was difficult to understand the ecological offer and who embodied it at the national level." The party saw a sort of mini-crossing of the desert in 2017 and 2018, before a first victory in spring 2019, in the Europeans: environmentalists came to disturb the duel between The Republic on the march and the National Rally, with 13.48% of the votes .
Macron's "failure", a chance for 2022?
These municipal victories garnered a year later represent the second stone of the emergence of a third force against LREM and the RN. "Ecology will prevail in all future discussions" in the cities soon to be headed by an EELV figure, says Laetitia Krupa. "What everyone is scrutinizing is the presidential election in two years. Olivier Faure (first secretary of the Socialist Party, editor's note) spoke of a 'social bloc and environmentalist' being born."
Is this "social and ecological block" born because the current executive is not taking enough stock of the climate emergency? "Emmanuel Macron's great failure is that he has never positioned himself on this ecological question. We heard it, but he did nothing. The resounding resignation of Nicolas Hulot (back to school 2018, editor's note) ) was a sign that there was a missing pillar in Emmanuel Macron's five-year term. " Environmentalists must now show their ability to lead local executives by giving pride of place to ecology, the pillar of their program. After the European municipal levels, it may be time for them to take an interest in the national.