"The radicalism that I wear is to win the presidential election."
The day after the results of the first round of the environmentalist primary, Yannick Jadot believes he has found his angle of attack in the face of the assumed radicalism of his competitor, Sandrine Rousseau.
"Do we want to win? Do we want to conquer power in 2022?" He asked the green electorate, Monday, September 20, on France Inter.
. @ yjadot: "What I say to those who have already voted is: do we want to win, to conquer power in 2022?"
# le79inter pic.twitter.com/mu6nAfHhpU
- France Inter (@franceinter) September 20, 2021
Member of the European Parliament since 2009, a major player in French politics since 2016, Yannick Jadot, 54, has had time to make a name for himself in the French political and media landscape and has long been a favorite in this environmentalist primary.
The case seemed so folded to some that pollsters had so far never bothered to test the names of the other candidates in their opinion polls.
>> To read: Sandrine Rousseau, the radical and feminist surprise of the environmentalist primary
Her competitor in the second round of the primary (online vote from September 25 to 28), Sandrine Rousseau, cannot indeed boast of a comparable political CV. Through his diligence, his hard work and his understanding of the technical issues he deals with in the European Parliament, Yannick Jadot has forged a rather flattering reputation as a MEP. Vice-president of the Committee on International Trade, he notably obtained - along with others - a victory by banning electric fishing. His name is also associated with the fight against free trade treaties. His intervention in the European Parliament against CETA (free trade treaty between the EU and Canada), on October 27, 2016, was viewed 1.5 million times on his Facebook account.
"It is someone who works the files and who will undoubtedly be able to assert during the debate in front of Sandrine Rousseau his great technical competence", estimates Daniel Boy, director of research emeritus at Cevipof and specialist in political ecology, contacted by France 24. "Whether it is the carbon tax at borders or international trade treaties, he knows these subjects inside out."
It is also his activity as a MEP that allows him, in the fall of 2016, to win the EELV primary against Michelle Rivasi (finish 2nd), Cécile Duflot and Karima Delli (eliminated in the first round) to become the candidate. of the Greens in the presidential election.
He then manages to make the synthesis between the right wing and the left wing of the party.
But his candidacy is fleeting.
Without waiting for the consultation of members, he decided in February 2017 to rally the socialist candidate, Benoît Hamon.
Accused of playing it solo
However, his name and face are now identified by the general public and it is him that the Greens choose in 2019 to be head of the European list.
With a score of 13.47%, EELV then created a surprise by placing itself in third position behind the lists of the National Rally and La République en Marche.
Yannick Jadot feels himself growing wings and already imagines himself bringing ecology to power in 2022.
"In fact, since his candidacy in 2017, Yannick Jadot has never stopped behaving as if he was still the EELV presidential candidate, with omnipresence in the media, analyzes Daniel Boy. It was a bit cheeky. on his part. He took a lot of risks vis-à-vis his party. "
>> To read: With 122,000 enrolled in their primary, environmentalists want to believe in a dynamic
Internally, this propensity to put forward and take liberties with the collective annoys. "We must beware of the temptation of arrogance", launches the former national secretary of the party, David Cormand, during the EELV summer days of August 2019, in a tirade addressed without naming it to Yannick Jadot . "If we, we start lecturing everyone, no one will give us the slightest credit. Success does not grant us any privileges but essential duties: a duty of constancy. The tyranny of egos must not destroy our common work, "he asserts.
Despite these calls to order, the MEP does not deviate from his path.
By launching his platform, "2022, the ecology", in February 2021, then by organizing meetings with all the left-wing parties, in the spring, without warning the leaders of his own party, he even gives the impression of want to apply without going through the primary box.
>> To read: The union of the left, this Arlésienne in whom many people do not believe
His desire to unite the left is also a turnaround.
Because two years earlier, during the European campaign, Yannick Jadot did not want to hear about union and claimed to be "neither right nor left".
"Ecology is not the left. Ecology wants to occupy a central place in the political debate. Ecology is much more than the left," he said in February 2019.
During this campaign, he also said to himself, in an interview with Le Point, "for trade, free enterprise and innovation".
In Le Figaro, he defines himself as the representative of a "pragmatic" ecology.
"I've been an environmentalist for thirty years"
"This image of green eyeing towards the center sticks to his skin and it is clear that facing Sandrine Rousseau, he represents an ecology that does not exclude working with companies while for the majority of the Greens, either within the party or among the militants, it is the State which must change things ", analyzes the specialist in political ecology.
Especially since Yannick Jadot shows little inclination to support the yellow vests - "It has to stop," he said in February 2019 about the Saturday demonstrations. But quick to defend the police as during their controversial demonstration, on May 19, 2021, after the death of one of their own in an anti-drug operation. "It is a moment of mourning, of solidarity. I want to say on behalf of environmentalists our attachment to the republican police. We must listen to the police unions and tell them what our proposals are for the safety of the French", is justified- he the same day, on France 2, while the management of EELV, for its part, criticizes the demonstration.
. @ yjadot on the accusation of "radicalism" against certain environmental candidates: "It is this ecology that has won over municipalities" # le79inter pic.twitter.com/F1uGnedYry
- France Inter (@franceinter) September 20, 2021
To get rid of this reputation as a centrist, Yannick Jadot recalls, since the results of the first round of the primary, his past as an activist within several NGOs, in particular with Solagral, specialized in monitoring international negotiations and supporting developing countries, and Greenpeace France, of which he was the campaign director from 2002 to 2008.
"Me, I've been an environmentalist for thirty years. I was with the peasants to fight against free trade, I was with the oppressed women in Bangladesh, when I was spied on by EDF, I was extracting GMOs ", he insisted, Monday morning, on France Inter.
A way for him to prove that he is as radical as his competitor when it comes to defending the environment.
It is up to the voters to judge.
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR