In front of a few thousand people in the circular room of the Cirque d'hiver and in front of a giant screen placed outside, the candidate, blue jacket and white shirt, promised to "protect the purchasing power of the French".

He called on his supporters to "multiply", to "make our program known", in a campaign on morphine", because of the war and a candidate, President Macron, "who does not want to debate".

The objective, beyond victory, he insisted, is above all to become "the first force on the left" for the upcoming legislative elections.

At this stage, Fabien Roussel, credited with 3 to 5% in the polls, is third on the left behind Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot but ahead of Anne Hidalgo.

"We never fight anything by brooding," he insisted in his speech of more than an hour, defending his Happy Days program, whose name is inspired by the program drawn up by the National Council of Resistance. .

He also announced "the constitution of a CNR of the 21st century, a National Council for the Republic, from next week", which "will bring together the forces which engage in this campaign".

The communist presidential candidate, Fabien Roussel, at the Cirque d'hiver, in Paris, on March 10, 2022 EMMANUEL DUNAND AFP

"It will show the hope of a left to work, a left for peace, a left for freedom", he explained, referring at length to the war in Ukraine and calling in particular for Ukrainian refugees "to be accommodated in the superb villas of the Russian oligarchs" in Europe.

He called once again to "dare peace", inviting the militants to shout "stop the war", which he himself came to shout in front of those who remained outside.

"We don't have the right to make holograms here, it's in the flesh," he quipped as he returned to the room, in reference to the meetings of his rebellious competitor Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

LVMH jerry cans

"The French are worried, they see the war on television, and they also see it in their wallets," he said.

"Petrol has become a luxury product, we will soon have LVMH jerry cans!"

"I ask that the 27 countries of the EU, meeting in Versailles, guarantee the supply of our countries with electricity, gas, wheat", he said, calling for "that not a penny of euros are paid to shareholders in 2022".

"As we tell children, we don't play with food," he insisted.

"Some candidates are already talking about retirement at 65, some are predicting a liter of petrol for 3 euros, some are asking you to lower your heating by 2 degrees (ecologist Sandrine Rousseau, editor's note), as if they didn't know not that we had already had to lower our heating, because of the bills”, he also denounced.

Communist presidential candidate Fabien Roussel during his speech at the Cirque d'Hiver on March 10, 2022 EMMANUEL DUNAND AFP

Fabien Roussel can boast of the recent support of several small leftist formations: The Republican and Socialist Left (GRS), The Left Radicals, the Republican and Citizen Movement and the New Socialist Left, whose representatives have been warmly applauded.

"Beyond the presidential election, this candidacy draws the outlines of a fighting left that knows where it is going," said Emmanuel Maurel (GRS), ex-PS and former supporter of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

While the latter, on the rise in the polls, continues to call on Mr. Roussel to join him, communist activists do not agree.

For Bernard, a 69-year-old Parisian sympathizer, who attended the speech outside, "with Fabien Roussel, the party is autonomous. It must continue to the end, otherwise there would be too many disappointed", assures you. he, admitting "no longer sacking" the rebellious candidate.

"Why wouldn't it be the opposite? We have rallied twice, that's enough", abounds Catherine, activist since 1978, recalling that the PCF had rallied to Mr. Mélenchon in 2012 and 2017. " Fabien Roussel woke up the PCF, that's good," she said.

© 2022 AFP