Just a year ago, it was negotiating dry at the headquarters of insubordinate France to develop what was to become the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes). Since then, the death notices of the alliance between LFI, PS, EELV, PCF and Générations have outnumbered the goals of Kylian Mbappé. It must be recognized that it has sometimes rocked between these allies but so far, the Nupes has resisted without shaking too much. Still, the tremors will perhaps be more serious about the European elections.
The ballot, which will take place in a little over a year, will be the first by direct universal suffrage since the legislative elections, and therefore the birth of the Nupes. And for months, the question of a possible single list for these elections has occupied the discussions, the debate having rebounded in the media in recent days. The ecologist Julien Bayou thus said he was open to a common list “on an ecological and federalist line”, the socialist Pierre Jouvet said he was ready to “discuss”. And the rebellious Manon Aubry says banco.
Forcers
In the summer of 2022, the national coordinator of rebellious France, Manuel Bompard, had made a rather improbable offer: a single list based on the balance of power of the 2019 European elections – not necessarily favorable to LFI -, with a head from the EELV list, leading the left four years ago. The reception was cool, while the three allies of LFI were in the middle of the campaign for their respective congresses. In December, barely elected at the head of EELV on the promise of an independent list to the Europeans, Marine Tondelier had repeated “no, it’s no” to a union. “We have to stop being the forcers,” she added. The rebellious loved it.
We stayed pretty much there. “Anyway, the position of the ecologists blocks everything”, explained recently half-annoyed, half-relieved, a PS executive. A Socialist Party in any case well entangled in its endless divisions, obviously not ready to go and sell a single list to the anti-Nupes of the party. This framework only sees exceptional circumstances to make things happen, such as Russia’s attack on the Baltic countries. “In any case, we are not going to negotiate alone with LFI when we are the two parties furthest from Nupes in Europe, that does not make sense. »
substantive differences
And it is primarily on this point that it fails. For more than thirty years, one, if not THE main fault line on the left, has been Europe. On the one hand, pro-European socialists and federalist ecologists. On the other, communists and rebellious Eurosceptics or even sovereignists on the left. The differences are important, even if this fracture could have been exaggerated. Jumble: the socialists have sometimes had a sinuous relationship with Europe; ecologists are sometimes critical; the Communists sat under Lionel Jospin in a government that brought France into the euro; Jean-Luc Mélenchon meanwhile claimed during the 2022 campaign not to be a “Frexiteur”, a serious update vis-à-vis his 2017 campaign.
Paul Vannier, head of elections at LFI, is delighted with Pierre Jouvet’s proposal to discuss the substance. And he relativizes: “Are we just going to talk about our conceptions of Europe? But MEPs do not vote on the institutional architecture of Europe! Of course, but they speak out on major international issues, such as the situation of the Uighurs in China. “It’s true that we vote differently on international resolutions… But we already do that in the Assembly,” he points out. He believes the Nupes capable of agreeing on an “action program”, as in the legislative elections.
“Frankly, sincerely, without acrimony”
For LFI, the question remains above all strategic: “In 2024, we can come out on top,” believes Paul Vannier. If this prospect makes the leadership of the PS think a little, at EELV, it has “no political sense” for the European deputy David Cormand, defender of ecological autonomy and of the European character of the election. But there, the rebellious dramatize: “Let those who want at all costs to go alone to the Europeans assume the serious responsibility of the division and to see the Nupes disappear”, stings Paul Vannier. In the rebellious camp, we do not believe in the theory of parenthesis: allies today, competitors in 2024, and allies the day after the Europeans. “If we have four lists, we’re going to hit each other, we mustn’t tell a story”, resumes Paul Vannier.
In mid-April, Générations organized a meeting to celebrate the anniversary of the union. On the spot, Olivier Faure, the leader of the PS, and Cyrielle Châtelain, president of the ecological group in the Assembly, were careful not to applaud Manuel Bompard who, giving “frankly, sincerely, without acrimony” his tracks for the future , declared: “The Nupes can only be a serious and credible alternative if it appears as a stable political coalition, presenting itself together in the municipal and European elections. “Despite the “no, it’s no” from Marine Tondelier, discussions on the European are probably just beginning. This will no doubt be discussed on May 2, during a “summit meeting” of the Nupes, where the famous “Act II” of the union is to take shape.