Drowned among the forty lists in the European elections, the very recent political party Equinoxe is heading out in force for the early legislative elections with 41 candidates all over France. Between partisan ecology of nuclear power, economics of sobriety and control of immigration, what is this Jancovician-inspired party?
If you don’t know Equinoxe, that’s normal, because it was only in 2021 that a handful of “forking” engineers founded this party. Their program was presented for the first time in the 2022 legislative elections and then in the last European elections without it succeeding, due to a lack of sufficient candidates and a lack of visibility. For the next election, Equinoxe will present 41 candidates, mainly in the Paris region but also, among others, in Bas-Rhin, Haute-Garonne, Manche, Finistère and Bouches-du-Rhône.
“We reject the idolatry of money”
The program, in fact, follows an ecological and sobriety line that the founders assume to be inspired by Jean-Marc Jancovici, the media engineer adept at degrowth and defender of nuclear power.
“We reject the idolatry of money and consumerism, […] sobriety separates what nourishes from what pollutes,” explains the party on the Internet. And this sobriety begins with energy in general, the “exit of fossil fuels” and the “development of nuclear power and renewable energies”. We also note the creation of an “individual carbon account” limiting CO2 emissions to 10 tonnes per year per person.
On the economic side, the transition desired by Equinoxe will be financed through new taxes, on financial transactions or on aircraft fuel. The party also wants to reform the common agricultural policy or introduce customs duties on agricultural products to fight non-European competition.
In its program for the Europeans, Equinoxe recommended giving Europe “the means to control its borders, control flows”, while anticipating migration “with a dignified and responsible reception policy”. It is notably a question of “creating an international climate refugee status”.