The 35-year-old MP for Isère, who defeated in the second round of the legislative elections the outgoing Jean-Charles Colas-Roy (Renaissance), was highlighted in June by becoming the co-president of the EELV group in the Assembly with Julien Bayou.

"On this co-presidency, I am probably almost as well known as Julien Bayou, but not yet", she quipped then.

Her baptism of fire took place in September: her partner, faced with accusations of psychological violence on her ex-companion, had to leave the presidencies of the group and the party, leaving her alone at the head of the 23 ecologist deputies.

Faced with the fratricidal duel between Julien Bayou and his colleague Sandrine Rousseau – at the origin of the publicity of the accusations -, Cyrielle Chatelain managed to maintain the union between the deputies.

"She did a real job of bringing people together", enthuses the deputy and spokesperson for the Sabrina Sebaihi group, when the EELV deputy Charles Fournier for his part salutes the management of the "Bayou affair with accuracy".

For Mr. Fournier, Cyrielle Chatelain "can become a personality if she continues to embody the collective, because that is also what makes her strong".

Cyrielle Chatelain holds a press briefing at the Matignon hotel in Paris on September 21, 2022 Thomas SAMSON AFP / Archives

It would still be necessary for this mother of two daughters who lives in the suburbs of Grenoble to manage to acquire notoriety among the general public, today almost zero, and to thwart the legendary battles of ego specific to the executives of EELV.

The leader of the Green MPs has already warned: she only hears about "green issues" and more about the Bayou-Rousseau affair.

The former parliamentary assistant to the Doubs ecologist deputy Éric Alauzet does not intend to comment on the December congress either, which is to appoint a successor to Julien Bayou: "I will not sign any of the motions, my role is that the party and the group articulate well", explains the one who had supported Eric Piolle in the last environmental primary.

"Appeasement and dialogue"

Engaged at 18 in the environmental movement, the elected representative from Isère, who worked in a federation of associations for integration through housing then in the metropolis of Grenoble, prefers "substance to form", notes Sabrina Sebaihi, who salutes "the quality of his work" and his "rigor" on the files.

And "she knows how to work for consensus, there is no brutality in her way of doing politics", she judges, observing that "she is not in the buzz".

A socialist elected confirms: it is "a new personality who manages to find his place without crushing the others".

She is "a bit anti-Sandrine Rousseau. A personality not necessarily very well known, but who embodies a form of seriousness and dialogue", continues the same.

The choice of this deputy to be the first speaker of the motion of censure of the Nupes seems obvious to some: "He is a useful person for the collective functioning", estimates the PS deputy Arthur Delaporte, who salutes his concern for "appeasement and dialogue".

The president of the EELV group in the National Assembly, Cyrielle Chatelain, speaks on October 24, 2022 in the hemicycle, in Paris JULIEN DE ROSA AFP

This holder of a master's degree in entrepreneurship in social and solidarity economy, who defends "radical proposals" in the face of the climate emergency, judges the government "obtuse and closed": "You are lying", she attacked immediately in front of the Prime Minister, during her speech to defend the motion of censure, denouncing "the government's climate inaction" and its "end-of-reign strategy".

The deputy, who fiercely defends the left-wing alliance Nupes - her deputy in the legislative elections is an elected LFI -, does not hide her disagreements either, as for example when LFI wanted to vote for a motion of censure tabled by the Lepenist troops: "We , we will never vote for motions of censure from the RN," she said.

© 2022 AFP