They want to ride the green wave. Environmentalists, big winners in municipal elections, are already thinking about the next electoral deadlines. In the crosshairs: the regional ones, in March 2021. "The objective is to carry an ecological project, with green list leaders everywhere", assures a European Ecology-Greens executive, for whom the momentum is launched. "Ecology will remain a guideline. There is a real expectation in society," also says a leader of the environmental party.
>> READ - Municipal: the green breakthrough, a certain political upheaval
The coveted Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
In the last regional elections in 2015, the right won eight regions, compared to seven for the left and two for the regionalists. But next year, EELV intends to do well. "The results of the municipal elections define the places where there can be expectations," analyzes a manager.
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is thus in the crosshairs of environmentalists. The latter captured the city and the metropolis of Lyon, Annecy and they retained Grenoble. In Chambéry, they supported the PS, which took over the city on the right.
"We consider ourselves legitimate to be able to govern in all regions"
Some environmentalists also target New Aquitaine. Bordeaux and Poitiers have passed under the green banner, while Bègles remains an EELV municipality. And the list of "winable" regions could be extended. An elected official affirms it: "We consider ourselves legitimate to be able to govern in all regions". After their successes in the European then in the municipal ones, the ecologists do indeed want to impose themselves on the regional ones, a year before the presidential election.