Europe Ecology-The Greens in search of a union of the left

During the Ecologists' Summer Days, the Europe Ecology-Les Verts (EELV) party assumed its rapprochement with other political parties, like La France insoumise (LFI) by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Génération. s, party created by the former socialist presidential candidate in 2017, Benoît Hamon.

Galvanized by the "green wave" of municipal governments, environmentalists are planning on the next electoral deadlines, including the presidential election of 2022. Gradually, they are drawing up their strategy, with the ambition of taking the head of a union of the left and of the '"avoid a second round Marine Le Pen / Emmanuel Macron", according to Julien Bayou, national secretary of EELV.

To expand its electorate after its victories in several large French metropolises, EELV is developing a "benevolent unifying project", he said on Friday in the fertile city of Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis), where the University of Paris was held. 'summer.

"To work together with the other forces"

For this project to see the light of day, underlined Julien Bayou, it is necessary to "surpass oneself" and to learn to "work in common with the other forces, as we do" in Pantin, where the 36th return of the environmentalists was co-organized with six parties of the ecological left. "We must patiently build this unifying and collective project to convince and win," he said again.

For three days, ecology was the central theme of the debates but other more societal subjects were discussed, such as police violence, the relocation of French production or even feminism. For EELV, it is about building a "clear, coherent, courageous project" rather than focusing on "labels" and "party alliances", according to Julien Bayou, interviewed Thursday on RTL.

>> To read also: "Municipal 2020: after the green wave, the return of the left in the foreground?"

It is in this context that the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, invited on Saturday, returned to his declarations qualifying the ecologists as "green ayatollahs" and on the accusations of remarks considered sexist which he faces since his appointment. .

"I said that the #MeToo movement was going to let women speak out and that it was positive. I asked that women be better received by the police when they come to file a complaint for domestic violence, I even said that the bastards should be condemned, "defended the Minister of Justice. "On the other hand, I said that the Web could not be the receptacle of these complaints", he added.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon reaches out to the Greens

From Thursday to Sunday, the members of La France insoumise (LFI) also met during their summer school, in Châteauneuf-sur-Isère, in Drôme. The EELV mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle, went there on Friday and met the leader of LFI, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. This exchange confirms the existence of close links between the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the city councilor, reelected in 2020 at the head of the town hall of Grenoble with the support of the Insoumis.

"His presence here has a meaning that there is no question of reducing", proclaimed Jean-Luc Mélenchon about Éric Piolle. "We are not negotiating, creating I do not know what plot," assured the Insoumis deputy. "But in the moment we find ourselves, we have to get to the point, certainly discuss the disagreements but also savor what we agree on", he added.

Thank you @JLMelenchon for the welcome. Our country faces immense challenges. Let's identify our convergences, let's work. Our goal is common: to win and change lives, for social and climate justice. Our opponent is common: Macron and the right. pic.twitter.com/towAsu0rCz

When Éric Piolle recalled that a dialogue with the Socialist Party was planned in Blois the following weekend, these remarks triggered some mocking laughter from the rebels, proof that the path to a complete union of the left remains complicated.

If Jean-Luc Mélenchon says he wants common lists for the departmental and regional elections of 2021, he suggested that the union would be more complicated in 2022 given "significant differences on the State and Europe", in particular.

For several weeks, the leader of the rebels has also left doubt on a possible presidential candidacy. Sunday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon affirmed that he would take "in October" his decision to run for president or not. Despite the courtesies, there is little doubt that EELV and LFI both aspire to take the leadership of the left in 2022.

Internal divergences

To unite the left, EELV must also be less divided. Éric Piolle and environmental MEP Yannick Jadot, considered too liberal by the rebels, do not hide their ambitions for an environmental candidacy for the presidential election. Yannick Jadot asked that the candidate be chosen "before the month of January" in order to "take the time to gather very widely".

But this vision is not unanimous within EELV, and in particular on the side of Julien Bayou, who first wishes to focus on the senatorial elections in September, and on the regional and departmental events scheduled for March 2021. In Pantin Julien Bayou assured that these last two polls represent "a decisive step for, the day after tomorrow, to offer a happy alternative to the country" in 2022.

"To be sustainable, political construction takes place over the long term" and "that is why each electoral stage is important and will allow us to anchor ecology a little more in the territories and the political landscape", pleaded EELV number one. On RTL, Julien Bayou also declared Thursday that "the time for the appointment [of the presidential candidate] has not come".

Among the members of EELV in agreement with this strategy, Julien Bayou can count on the MEP Karima Delli or on Éric Piolle. "Organizing the designation of our candidate [for the presidential election] during the regional and departmental campaign is a bad thing. It's almost suicide for our candidates," said the mayor of Grenoble.

Saturday, the ecological parties called during the summer school for the creation of "common lists" and "common programs" for regional and departmental. According to Julien Bayou, the heads of the list should be revealed in September and validated the following month. Decisive steps for a party in full progress since the Europeans of 2019.

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