During the “Ecologist Summer Days” which opened this Thursday in Poitiers, the subject of the primaries for the presidential elections was carefully put aside. In his opening speech in front of some of the 3,000 people expected at the "JDE", the head of EELV Julien Bayou urged his troops to "finally lose the habit of losing". For 2022, “the ecologists know where they are going, to win”. "The road to victory is tight but it exists, our time has come", he said while the Greens seem confident for the presidential election, after successful interim elections.

Julien Bayou said he was ready to forge “coalitions” on the left once the primary has passed - but only behind the winner of it.

Scheduled for September, it represents a major obstacle for environmentalists who fear potential internal divisions, which have caused them many setbacks in the past.

No debate between candidates

As if to ward off them, the organizers did not want a sequence of debate to these "JDE" between the candidates of the primary: the mayor of Grenoble Eric Piolle, the MEP Yannick Jadot, the former number 2 of EELV Sandrine Rousseau , MP Delphine Batho and entrepreneur Jean-Marc Governatori.

The three days in Poitiers should not be used for a "confrontation", Julien Bayou told the press, but rather allow activists to have "the candidates at hand".

And the debate, the Greens judged "better to entrust it to professionals," smiled their leader, referring to the audiovisual meetings of France Inter on September 5 and LCI on September 8.

"There is not this atmosphere at daggers drawn from the previous primaries"

On the other hand, each of the five candidates will benefit during the summer days of one hour of “carte blanche” to unfold their roadmap and answer questions from the public.

Yannick Jadot and Eric Piolle open the ball at the end of the day on Thursday, before the other three on Friday evening.

"For the moment, I feel our militant base very calm, there is not this atmosphere at daggers drawn from the previous primaries", reassured Sandra Regol, deputy national secretary of EELV.

The chief organizer of the summer days Marine Tondelier - moreover in the campaign team of Eric Piolle - for his part proposed the concept of "ecologicity, a harmonious and united relationship between ecologists" ... which does not work. not self.

Yannick Jadot and Eric Piolle already on the offensive

The five competing teams are in any case well on the offensive, in particular the two favorites Yannick Jadot and Eric Piolle, who have each drawn long lists of support in recent weeks. In a platform at

Le Parisien

, Thursday morning, 1,100 signatures including 330 elected, including six senators, a third of EELV MEPs, mayors or the former head of the regional list Claire Desmares-Poirrier, Nicolas Thierry and Jean-Laurent Félizia, supported the MEP. “Yannick Jadot embodies ecology in the eyes of many French people: he has an important reputation. It is a fundamental achievement with a view to the presidential election, to be heard beyond the traditional ecological electorate ”, they wrote.

Eric Piolle, for his part, published at the beginning of the week about thirty measures such as a “climate ISF”, the creation of 1.5 million green jobs or even three billion euros of additional investment in rail.

"The popular dynamic will come after the primary"

During his speech, Julien Bayou also called for mobilization for online voting, the first round of which will take place from September 16 to 19, and the second from September 25 to 28.

For the time being, less than 20,000 people are registered, while it will be important for environmentalists to legitimize their representative against other candidates on the left, already declared as the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon or expected as the PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.

Eric Piolle relativized: “We are not looking for two or four million participants, the popular dynamic will come after the primary.

I am basic, I try to get people in to vote for me ”.

"Never in the history of ecology have we had this opportunity to win a presidential election", hence a "feeling of responsibility", abounded Yannick Jadot.

For her part, “eco-feminist” Sandrine Rousseau sought to thwart the duel between Yannick Jadot and Eric Piolle, a “media construction”.

“No primary has confirmed the favorites.

You will see that there will be a surprise!

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Politics

Presidential 2022: Eric Piolle's support for the environmentalist primary is manifested

Politics

Presidential 2022: These are officially four candidates who will compete in the ecological primary in September

  • Yannick Jadot

  • Eric Piolle

  • ecology

  • EELV

  • Primary

  • Primary ecologist

  • Elections