Paris (AFP)

The economist Sandrine Rousseau, qualified in the second round of the ecologist primary on Sunday, saw herself as an ambassador of "ecofeminism" on a mission, after several years of political hiatus following the Baupin affair of which she was a figure determined.

Integration income, more egalitarian tax reform, "radical ecology": for his campaign, the former deputy national secretary of the party immediately placed himself on the left and "fully assumes it".

In doing so, she made a few waves. She drew the wrath of the team of her competitor Eric Piolle for accusing the mayor of Grenoble of having "jostled" her during the Poitiers Summer Days in mid-August, before specifying in front of the opposite evidence that the incident was "symbolic". "A political fault" does not discourage an EELV executive today.

In the media, she was noticed for her combativeness which sometimes made her commit slippages, such as when she said that having potential Afghan terrorists in France, "it also allows us to monitor them".

A "clumsiness", she then admitted.

And on the net, she has become the head of Turkish far-right networks which have even created a parody Twitter account, "Sandrine Ruisseau".

However, Sandrine Rousseau prides herself on wanting to convince on the merits.

She advocates "ecofeminism" which rises, she explains, against "the system of violence and assignment of women also applying to nature or the popular classes".

His political profile was nourished by his personal history.

In 2016, she accused in the press, alongside other women of the party, the former deputy of Paris Denis Baupin of sexual assault and harassment.

The time-barred case was dismissed, but a defamation lawsuit brought by Denis Baupin in April 2019 resulted in his conviction for abusive proceedings.

A year before the world wave "Me too", the affair had caused a stir in France, and the general public discovered Sandrine Rousseau through her tears on the set of "We are not lying" on France 2.

Today, this petite brunette with a serious look says she remains marked by the "violence" which has been discharged against her word, including within EELV: "People refused to say hello. There is something wrong. 'indescribable that coalitions against you, marginalizes you: I was no longer a politician, nor an economist, but simply a victim ”.

- "In the middle of the living room" -

She then "fades" from political life and creates the "Parler" association, which organizes meals to free speech between women victims of sexual violence.

An initiative that "has helped me a lot and helped a lot of women," says Sandrine Rousseau, proud that the association has spread to 10 cities in France.

The one who was born on March 8, 1972, to parents who were tax controllers and left activists, entered politics in 2009 when she was approached by Europe Écologie to appear in fifth position on the Hauts-de-France list for the European elections.

In 2010, she became regional advisor and vice-president of the Hauts-de-France region, in charge of higher education and research.

She then entered the executive office of EELV where she became number 2.

Sandrine Rousseau saw a major failure in the 2015 regional elections: head of the EELV list within a crumbled left, she did not cross the 5% mark necessary to reimburse campaign costs.

What makes an EELV executive sneer today at AFP: "She goes out of her way to be the head of the list, the strategy is contested at the local level, things are going badly, we all have to contribute to repay , she disappears from political life and several years later she returns to say + I want to be president of the Republic + ".

"She is motivated and motivating. She has enough courage to go to the end of things," says Stéphanie Bocquet, city councilor in Lille and one of her early supporters.

Alexis Braud, lieutenant of Yannick Jadot, sees in this "friend", in favor of whom he testified at his trial, "someone very determined, very strong".

It is also, according to him, "an intellectual who really has the global thought which is appropriate to the ecology".

© 2021 AFP