“It was the bolt from the blue that forced us to come back to reality. » For Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the very large victory of Jordan Bardella’s RN list in the European elections pushed the left to unite for the legislative elections. The leader of La France insoumise received 20 minutes at the headquarters of his movement on Friday and answered the last questions by email on Saturday. He returns to this new Popular Front and the recent disagreements, the attacks by Emmanuel Macron, and his candidacy for Matignon.
Should we wait until we have our backs against the wall for the left to talk effectively to each other?
There is no better school than that of reality. Let us salute the sense of responsibility: there were wounds on all sides, we could fear that they would never heal! We overcame it! Everyone rose to the height of what was necessary.
Some scars appear open. LFI executives discovered that they were not reinvested. Are you not endangering the Popular Front?
No, the agreement is signed. We ceded one hundred and thirty constituencies for a three-point difference to the Europeans. We are keeping the promise to extend applications to union and association activists. The others will no doubt do the same, as promised. Very winnable seats had to be reserved for this. The electoral committee worked a lot. Lifetime nominations do not exist. But political coherence and loyalty in the first left-wing parliamentary group are also a requirement for governing.
Your allies denounce a “purge”, support the outgoing deputies, but not Adrien Quatennens. Does the signed agreement still have value?
Let’s not start again with the words that hurt. Do we give an opinion on partner applications? Should we support dissidents in turn? I warn against these deadly games. This agreement is not a matter of person but of program. Adrien was tried and served his sentence. He was punished in the group and the movement. Now some are adding a penalty of ineligibility under the threat of making everyone lose. I am appalled.
Doesn’t this new crisis definitively eliminate you for Matignon?
My personal situation is never a prerequisite for my decisions. And I just told you: I’m not asking for anything. The same people who are crying did not protest when the electoral commission parachuted them into their constituency once against the advice of local activists. Enough personal stories. Let’s win the election first.
Today, you no longer have “consensus”, isn’t that proof of a change in the balance of power?
The political strategy of the rebels is general unity and the program of ruptures with the system. In twelve years, it has become that of the entire left. So there, for me, a hit with this agreement. Matignon is not an existential subject. I’m not building a career. The rebels produced capable leaders. When Léon Blum became head of government in 1936, he was not at the level of Manuel Bompard, nor Mathilde Panot or Clémence Guetté, he was an art critic and Marxist leader of the Socialist Party.
What is at stake in the next election?
In forty years, the National Rally has become the leading political force. On the left, there was a united surge because our common historical culture prepares us for that. We know where the RN is leading! The confrontation between the RN and the Popular Front opposes fundamental principles of life in society. Faced with ecological and social crises: is it everyone for themselves or all together? Priority to difference or similarity between humans… So many people are afraid: they fear the racist and ethnicist character of the RN. France is up against the wall of its identity and its History. Who are you, French? All free, equal and fraternal, or not?
Why is leaving the European treaties no longer mentioned in the agreement?
To avoid misunderstandings and unnecessary abstract battles. We overcame our differences by sticking to concrete decisions on which everyone agrees: refusing the European budgetary pact and free competition when it destroys nature or social achievements and public services, and finally we reject free trade treaties.
Is your program applicable in the EU?
We are not planning to leave Europe or the euro by 2027! But France must remain free to make its choices. I have a file in which there are dozens of cases in Europe where the provisions of the treaties are not applied… Example: the Spanish and the Portuguese left the electricity market without problem. The program is applicable for a reason: the French will have wanted it with us! We will keep our word! It matters in politics! Don’t worry: we’ll talk to the others. We will even convince the Germans, you will see.
You offer free schooling for all. Why not charge those who can afford it?
For a society to unite, rights must be universal. This is the principle of Social Security. However, it is in our interest to mend society because it is in social pieces. If we arrive by saying “from now on, it’s free, but not for you, nor you…”, we are not building the feeling of equal human rights.
How do you finance this measure and the others?
The balance in the distribution of wealth will change. The very rich will finally give their share. In our project, there are 123 billion euros in new tax revenues: elimination of the flat tax (1), reinstatement of the exit tax (2), establishment of fourteen income tax brackets to relieve the middle classes, progressive inheritance tax…
For Gérald Darmanin, your project would be “an economic drama which will ruin France”…
Old refrains against the Popular Front! But Macronie has already ruined France! We are relaunching the economy
There is 3,000 billion in debt. If you are in power in a month, you inherit it…
We pay our expenses with contributions from billionaires. We can take more from them. I spoke of 123 billion in new revenue. But they have received 140 billion in tax gifts per year since 2017. There is still 17 billion to take. The question is not “how much does it cost”, but who pays?
Jordan Bardella says he doesn’t want to play “Santa Claus like Jean-Luc Mélenchon”. Are you Santa Claus?
Do not personalize this common program! Bardella is Macron made worse. He already has the policy. He has just accepted retirement at 64. We will cancel it from day one, as well as the other Macronist anti-social measures. Bardella is the social scam, new racist brutalities and the ruin of Social Security deprived of contributions. With him tomorrow, it will be worse than yesterday. Let’s turn the page!
The program sweeps several disagreements under the rug. Will the Popular Front abandon nuclear power while it advocates carbon neutrality in 2050?
When we decide not to build new EPRs, and on the other hand we increase sobriety and new means of producing clean energy, mechanically, nuclear power will decline before 2027.
The former president of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, announced that she would not vote for LFI in the event of a duel with the RN. What would you do in an RN-macronist duel?
We will see… The Macronists have demolished, one by one, all the dikes with the National Rally. With the Immigration law, the common votes against the ISF, etc. With this exclusive, they continue to pave the way for the RN.
By saying that Emmanuel Macron is far-right, have you not also trivialized the RN?
It’s still terrible, it’s always our fault. The “Republican front” is in trouble for two reasons: on many subjects, the Macronists and the RN share the same basis of views. And the media class has created a pro-RN atmosphere. We did our job without ever changing our line, which commanded respect from those who stayed away from politics.
Emmanuel Macron denounced the “anti-Semitism and anti-parliamentarism” of LFI. What do you answer?
He is evil. He speaks of “extremes”, it is the zero degree of political thought. How are we extreme? He is no longer rational. How are we unparliamentary? Because we don’t wear ties and speak loudly in the Chamber? It is because we speak loudly that we are heard.
The anti-parliamentarians are Madam President of the Assembly, who sanctions more in two years than during the entire Fifth Republic. Or the one who increases pensions by 49.3… In the second round of the legislative elections, we will often be facing the RN. This is the moment when he chooses to stigmatize us. This man is suspicious: we have the impression that a victory for the RN would suit him.
You have been widely criticized for having spoken of “residual anti-Semitism” while anti-Semitic acts have increased…
You should read the text and not a single word. But I am ready to correct the adjective. I warn: if we say that France is an anti-Semitic country, behind it, some blame Muslims… That would be a tragedy. The country cannot live in this suspicion, one against the other. The program of the new Popular Front engages the fight against anti-Semitism. But also against Islamophobia and hatred of Muslims. Defeating racism and racist policies is decisive. Otherwise this venom will destroy France.
Your characterization of Hamas has also been widely criticized…
What have I not been criticized for ten years! The tactic of my opponents is to demonize me. To create a dam preventing ecological and social protest from having a political representative who stands up. A “republican front” in reverse. I was criticized for what I didn’t say, or what I should have said… I always said that attacking a rave party on the evening of October 7 was a terrorist act… But all the same: Is asking for punishment for all war crimes weak? Listen to the cries of Netanyahu threatened with being charged! But we will never legitimize the right to revenge. Nor especially the ongoing massacres. Our line is international law, period.
Are you going to be a candidate for the legislative elections?
LFI had to cede one hundred and thirty constituencies! I won’t take anyone’s place. I proved that I could be useful in other ways.
(1) The flat tax is the flat-rate levy on capital income.
(2) The exit tax makes it possible to tax taxpayers who move their tax domicile abroad.