The former socialist presidential candidate toured the rebellious and socialist summer universities, ending up with environmentalists in Le Havre, and questioning them on the need, according to him, for a union of the left for European women. of 2024.
He arrived in Le Havre with a smile. And left in a climate of tension. Withdrawn from political life since 2021, and entirely dedicated to his function as director of the NGO for the defense of refugees Singa, Benoît Hamon is making a small comeback this fall. For the very first time, he was at the summer universities of La France insoumise near Valence on Thursday, and took the opportunity to have dinner with Jean-Luc Mélenchon. On Friday, he went to Blois to visit his former comrades whom he left after the failure of his presidential candidacy in 2017 (6.3%). The opportunity to discuss with the boss, Olivier Faure, and to participate in the summer campus of the socialists “for the first time in six years”, he specifies. Before, therefore, a passage to the summer days of environmentalists this Saturday.
In Le Havre, he first seems to be on conquered ground. Everyone rushes to greet him and to kiss the one who was – also – the candidate of the environmentalists in 2017 since Yannick Jadot had withdrawn in his favor. “You are here in your home”, laughs the MEP David Cormand, with whom he debates the “democratic transition” in the plenary hall.
Before going on stage, he confides in Release his disappointment that the left is not united for the European elections of 2024. The division, the parties beating on each other, it depresses him. “I have the same impression as when you come back with an ex: you know exactly how and why it’s going to go wrong”, he sighs. The responsibility of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in all this? “Ah but I don’t care about that honestly!” He validates the rebellious analysis according to which lists separated from the Europeans could bury the union of the left for the next presidential election in 2027. On the stroke of the weekend signed by his former comrade Ségolène Royal, he does not want to speak.
“They are focused on their little vegetable garden”
At the podium, after having discussed corporate governance in the social and solidarity economy, Benoît Hamon nevertheless seized the opportunity to have a microphone. “Me what made me hope as a citizen lately, it is the Nupes. We must not behave vis-à-vis the extreme right as individuals who would be overprotected from the risk it represents. Today there are people who are really scared,” he begins. Before addressing the crowd: “I don’t understand why you don’t accept that Marie Toussaint is the head of the list for the whole left! The political ecology that shows the way, shit, it’s worth it! he gets carried away. Some of the audience applauds him. David Cormand did not cut it in his tirade. But eludes his answer on the pretext that “this is not the subject of the planned discussion”.
On leaving the stage, Benoît Hamon has a little muscular explanation with the boss of the greens, Marine Tondelier, under the eye of activists who take coffee. It is the usual exchange of arguments on the Europeans. But the head of environmentalists does not hide her annoyance. We ask for a debrief from the founder of the small Generation movement. s, which he no longer leads, but which is allied with Europe Ecologie-les Verts. “They are focused on their little vegetable garden, with arguments like: something took a carrot from us, so now we are defending our salads. They don’t see the big picture, the global issue, he laments, surprised by the vehemence of his comrades. “Must not forget that I come here as a friend. They still look pretty tense though. Often the sign that a position is not very solid.