In part, they thought they would relive François Mitterrand and 1981. And for many former young people with François Hollande, their disappointment lived up to their expectations. Hugo, Lucie and Nicolas were in their twenties when they got fully involved, at various levels of responsibility, in the presidential campaign of the socialist candidate. All have returned, and today find themselves voting for a diversity of candidates, from Mélenchon to Macron via Jadot, which perfectly illustrates the current breakdown of former PS voters.
It must be said that between Hugo Baillet, today marketing director in the real estate sector and convinced by Emmanuel Macron, and Nicolas Andreoli, history-geography teacher in Mayotte and ready to vote Mélenchon, we understand that no one could leave satisfied. of this mandate. The progressive disintegration of the hopes of those who had made his campaign was done according to the reforms and the changes of government of the quinquennium. Among them, and for those whose vote still leans to the left, two come up repeatedly.
When Hollande “hired Macron, he knew his orientations perfectly”
“The CICE [Crédit d’impôt pour la compétitivité et l’emploi, entrée en vigueur dès 2013 et qui confère un important avantage fiscal aux entreprises] could have been a good idea, but there was no control over the billions exempted, ”regrets Nicolas, then departmental manager of the Var for the MJS. Also comes the Labor Law (2016), which had led to major demonstrations, without forgetting to mention what Nicolas considers to be a tipping point: the appointment of Manuel Valls as Prime Minister in 2014. Difficult from this point of view provide “after-sales service when the product is not good. Either I was telling lies or I was slowing down. I took it easy,” says Nicolas. And to let go: “I think that François Hollande fooled us. When he hired Emmanuel Macron, he knew his orientations perfectly. »
A feeling of having been “a little cheated on the merchandise” shared by Lucie Briatte. This former MJS in charge of the youth, culture, leisure center for young socialists for the Holland countryside prefers above all to keep “the strong memories” with, as a highlight, this May 6 shortly after 8 p.m. and the crowd of the great evenings gathered in the Place de la République, in Paris. “François Hollande wanted to remain in a soft synthesis of a left which no longer embodied the fight against inequalities”, analyzes this young mother. After being elected to a Lyon sector town hall until 2020 and keeping her PS label, she now hesitates between Anne Hidalgo, out of loyalty, and Yannick Jadot.
“We climbed very high and descended very low”
“François Hollande has done great things,” said, conversely, Hugo Baillet who was in charge of the digital campaign for young people with François Hollande. After stints in ministerial cabinet, he preferred to go into the private sector. Convinced very early on by Emmanuel Macron, whom he was able to meet two or three times during work meetings, this pure product of intramural Paris admits having “evolved in his convictions”. “But I was never a revolutionary,” he says. Also, retirement at 65 seems to him to be a necessity, “duties before rights” a good response “to the lack of responsibility of citizens”. When asked if he has ever dreamed of a sixth week off, Hugo Smiles: “I don’t even have time to ask five…”
To ask them if they think that the PS, with which they experienced the intoxication of the march to victory just 10 years ago, can survive the announced debacle, the answers remain hesitant. “I don’t know how it’s going to hold up, wonders Hugo. Anne Hidalgo still has in her deputies at the town hall of Paris a communist spokesperson and a Green…” “We went up very high and went down very low”, breathes Lucie who however hopes to see her party go up the slope. But nobody sees in the current PS a person capable of donning this costume.
If all remain attentive observers of political life and, particularly, of their former party, none regrets this commitment. “Unforgettable moments” for Lucie with “useful experience in [s]on travail” and “at the beautiful address book”, collected by Hugo.