Paris (AFP)

Laurent Joffrin, ex-director of Liberation, presents Monday his "new movement" supposed to encompass and exceed the formations of the historic left, "in particular the PS", and endowed with "an ambitious program" for 2022.

During a press conference at 11:00 am in Paris, Mr. Joffrin will launch an appeal, of which AFP has obtained a copy, for "recomposition" of the left, addressing all those who are "concerned about the future of the planet and national cohesion ".

"We must create a new movement, which includes and goes beyond the formations of the historic left, in particular the PS", wrote this close to François Hollande in his appeal, which brought together "some 130 signatories, intellectuals, experts, business leaders, associative or union activists, creators and artists ".

The political reconversion of Mr. Joffrin, 68, made a stir at Libé, of which he gave up the direction, while wishing to keep the possibility of writing chronicles there. The editorial staff of the daily informed him that she wanted to cut ties with him, deeming his political engagement incompatible with any function within the newspaper.

According to Mr. Joffrin, the left needs a "central force that places ecology at the heart of public action". But "the social question, especially in the period which opens, will remain central", he affirms.

"If nothing changes" in view of the presidential election of 2022, he warns, "the next deadline will come down to a competition between the spokesmen of anger and the proponents of an ecology reduced to a party, under the eye of the last socialists overwhelmed by the bad conscience. "

"In a ballot lost in advance, the left will be eliminated in the first round and, in the second, forced to call pitifully to block the National Rally to let five more years of authoritarian liberalism divide the country," he adds. it, without excluding a victory for the far right.

To avoid this scenario, he called on the left to "reinvent its doctrine and its program". It is a question of "radically changing the direction of the economy to keep a planet livable", "reorienting the European project around a new energy and ecological deal", "ensuring security with a republican state respectful of rule of law and secularism "," providing an outlet for the feminist movement "or" ending discrimination against minorities ".

"We therefore call on all those who share this vision to join us. Then, we will launch the process which will go through the meeting of social and ecological meetings, whose transparent and participative nature will be guaranteed. The members of this movement will choose then their representatives and will develop, from the contributions of all, the transformation project which France lacks and which will have to find its incarnation in 2022 ", concludes Mr. Joffrin.

© 2020 AFP