Yannick Jadot and Eric Piolle are in a boat. - ISA HARSIN / SIPA

  • After several municipal victories, EELV hopes to continue its momentum.
  • But the 2022 presidential election could be a spoiler.
  • A duel between Yannick Jadot and Eric Piolle is emerging.

“The return to school is off to a good start, we are quiet. "The day after the" Summer Days "of Europe Ecology-Les Verts in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis) this weekend, environmentalists are playing serenity. “After our breakthrough in the Europeans, we confirmed the municipal elections by setting up in many cities. The objective is now to press on the mushroom ”, assures Julien Bayou.

The boss of EELV is now targeting the senatorial elections next September and the combined departmental-regional ballot in 2021. But another deadline could be a spoiler. The presidential election of 2022, already present in many heads, agitated the return of the green people.

Yannick Jadot, legitimate candidate?

Since his third place in the Europeans of 2019 (13.48%), Yannick Jadot wishes to embody political ecology in France for 2022. The MEP did not hide his ambitions during an interview with AFP released Thursday. "At this stage, I am preparing for the presidential election," he said, putting pressure on his party: "We will not yet for a year be divided on the question of who will be the candidate, with these little phrases that have done so much harm to political ecology ”. The former Greenpeace activist even asked that EELV designate his future champion (him) before January.

But Jadot's ambition seems to annoy some environmentalists, who have always been irritated by the monarchical logic of the Fifth Republic. “He has this desire within him, this ambition, but everything in its time. The presidential election is not a letter in the mail. It's all rushed. Let us not make the presidential election the major axis of the months to come! »Says the senator of Paris Esther Benbassa.

"I am talking about designation, I am talking about the project," also reframed Julien Bayou in front of his activists on Saturday. The national secretary of EELV specifies: “The presidential election is not the next step. There are the regional ones and the construction of the project, with our partners. But we will have an ecological candidacy in 2022. We have talented people, we will need them ”.

Towards a duel with Eric Piolle?

The plural is not trivial: other personalities could join in the fun. This is the case of Eric Piolle, reelected mayor of Grenoble thanks to a union list in June. More cautious than Jadot, the latter however multiplies the media appearances and could appear as a solution to the MEP, considered by some to be too liberal or too centrist. Eric Piolle also made a remarkable outing on Friday at the summer universities of La France insoumise, alongside Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

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

- Éric Piolle (@EricPiolle) August 21, 2020

Between the two environmentalists, the match therefore seems to settle. And the small spikes between the two camps, for the moment muffled, could awaken the demons of a party often prone to internal divisions. “EELV has given this image of quarrels in the past and we have paid dearly for it. We don't have the right to fall back into this, into this ego fight. We have to arrive at a consensual candidacy, which largely leads, ”blows Joël Labbé, environmental senator from Morbihan, who distanced himself from EELV in 2016.

But how to decide? By a primary - “machine to lose”, according to Jadot - or by a simple vote of the members? “It is healthy to have several candidates, we are not a team. The choice will be made in a democratic way, by a vote of the militants, and in a logic of openness, therefore by extending perhaps to the sympathizers. The debate is not settled, “sweeps away the former MP Eva Sas. The discussions promise to be intense on the date and the method. But the spokesperson for EELV warns: “We have learned from our mistakes, and our state of mind has changed. We will not have a testimonial application, we will choose the best candidate to win ”.

Politics

Mélenchon and Piolle appear together to plead the dialogue between LFI and EELV

Municipal

Municipal results: After the green wave, heading for the presidential election for environmentalists

  • Eric Piolle
  • Yannick Jadot
  • Presidential
  • ecology
  • EELV