France: the PS avoids leaving the road, but at what price in the medium term?

From left to right: the boss of the Belgian PS Paul Magnette, the mayor of Nantes Johanna Rolland, the deputy Olivier Faure, the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin Hélène Geoffroy, that of Rouen Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol and the president of the Young socialists Emma Rafowicz, during the 80th congress of the Socialist Party in Marseille, this Sunday January 29, 2023. AFP - CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

The 80th Congress of the Socialist Party ended in peace, this Sunday, December 29 in Marseille.

After several weeks of high tension, the PS managed to avoid leaving the road.

Rivals Olivier Faure and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol have decided to join forces, while the line most hostile to Nupes chooses the opposition internally.

A very delicate balance.

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With our special correspondent in Marseille,

After ten days of high tension, marked by accusations of fraud and exchanges of bird names, an agreement was finally reached between the two rivals for the leadership of the French Socialist Party, on the occasion of the 80th congress of the movement in Marseilles.

Olivier Faure remains the first secretary of the rose party, while sharing power with his rival in the second round of the internal election, the mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol.

But the functioning of this new alliance promises to be complex.

It is indeed a baroque organization chart, which the left formation has adopted to get out of the crisis.

To remain at the head of the PS, Olivier Faure has indeed agreed to create a tailor-made position for Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, bombarded "first deputy secretary".

Another novelty: the establishment of a political committee bringing together the major socialist voices, including the two powerful allies of the mayor of Rouen, the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga, and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

A review of the statutes and the electoral system within the PS is also planned.

Voting reform point at the PS: Olivier Faure does not seem very keen on electronic voting.

But it is a strong claim of the Mayer Rossignol camp.

So to decide

— Aurélien Devernoix (@aureldevernoix) January 28, 2023

Completed, the large majority

The concessions, however, are struggling to hide the almost total control that Olivier Faure keeps on the Socialist Party.

He has the majority in the bureau and in the National Council.

He also offered another position as first deputy secretary to his ally, the mayor of Nantes Johanna Rolland.

Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol will ultimately have very little room for manoeuvre, especially since he is also asked to be discreet.

The signed agreement specifies that the content of the weekly meetings he will hold with Olivier Faure and Johanna Rolland must remain confidential.

Olivier Faure may have hammered, in his closing speech, that the PS completes this "gathered" Marseille congress, while this 80th meeting could have been that of the split, the number one of the party therefore comes out weakened, but in a relative way, of this scandalous electoral sequence.

Tomorrow we will be at work.

No intimidation will silence us.

We will bring to Parliament the voice of those who have only us to defend them.

We will be faithful to our history, our principles and our values.#CongresPS pic.twitter.com/Qa1ueYqSso

— Olivier Faure (@faureolivier) January 29, 2023

If he had a large majority during his previous terms, here is the reappointed first secretary forced to deal with an ally, and to pick up the pieces.

He will also have to take more account of the opposition embodied by the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, Hélène Geoffroy.

The future of the PS in Nupes

It is difficult to envisage, under these conditions, a new passage in force, as for the Nupes agreement during the 2022 legislative elections. And even if he warned this Sunday morning against the temptation to withdraw into oneself, it will be necessary also to Olivier Faure to distance himself from La France insoumise.

LFI arouses strong hostility within the PS, and failing to take this into account, the hard-to-build majority could shatter.

Precarious unity, therefore, while the ambition shared among the socialists is to bring the other forces of the left and ecology back to him in 2027.

The new balance, with an Olivier Faure devoid of a large majority, could have consequences on the role of the PS within the union of the left.

Because as Patrick Mennucci, one of the opposition figures in the party, notes, the lines have moved a lot in recent months.

We can clearly see that Europe Ecology is distanced, that the Communist Party has a relationship with Nupes which is not an ideal relationship... Here, all that will weigh...

Report: what place for the PS in the union of the left?

Aurelien Devernoix

On Saturday, the boss of the PS had entrusted it to the press: being a leader on the left cannot be decreed, it must be earned.

We will therefore have to forget the arguments and work on the project.

The PS will begin this Monday conventions intended to build its new political program.

►To re-read: France: in Marseille, end of the battle for the leadership of the Socialist Party

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