The battle of the ecologists can begin. Five candidates are in the running for the primary of environmentalists, which will take place at the start of the school year and must nominate the champion of the Greens for the presidential election. Delphine Batho, Jean-Marc Governatori, Yannick Jadot, Eric Piolle and Sandrine Rousseau will face each other in this ballot open to environmental sympathizers, organized on September 16-19 and then September 25-28. 20 minutes reviews the strengths and weaknesses of each application.
Yannick Jadot, the favorite
Since his breakthrough in the Europeans of 2019 (third at 13.48%), Yannick Jadot has been a leader of environmentalists. The MEP EELV, who hesitated to step over the primary, finally decided to be a candidate in the internal ballot. “I want to put ecology at the heart of power” and “build a French ecology team”, assured the former head of Greenpeace France, who notably defends
a carbon tax.
Its asset: its status as a favorite. Yannick Jadot is the candidate with the most exposure to the media and the best known among the French. He also has a revenge to take: for the 2017 presidential election, he was erased behind the PS candidate Benoît Hamon after winning the internal primary of the environmentalists.
His weakness: his status as a favorite. EELV activists have often knocked out their most media-oriented personalities in internal elections, such as Cécile Duflot, eliminated in the first round in 2016, or Nicolas Hulot in 2011.
Delphine Batho, experience and degrowth
Delphine Batho has announced that she is a candidate “for another ecology”, different from that of EELV. The president of Génération écologie thus says “to assume to be for the degrowth, to be for a balance between the human necessities and the necessities of the preservation of the living”.
Its asset: its experience. The former socialist wants to embody ecology of “responsibility”, highlighting his passage at the Ministry of Ecology under François Hollande for a little over a year.
His weakness: his passage to the PS. Before leaving him in 2018, Delphine Batho was for a long time an executive of the Socialist Party, close to Julien Dray and support of Ségolène Royale in the 2007 presidential election. A socialist adventure that might not be to the liking of some EELV activists.
Eric Piolle, the “victory experience”
“My political ecology is to federate and exercise power”, assured 20 minutes Eric Piolle during an interview last week. The mayor EELV of Grenoble since 2014 says he wants to bring his “victory experience”. He pleads for a constitutional referendum from the start of his mandate to “unlock democracy”.
Its asset: its unifying profile on the left. As he did in his city, the elected ecologist wishes to “federate a humanist arc” which would go from the ex-macronist Matthieu Orphelin to the rebellious François Ruffin and Clémentine Autain.
His weakness: his image as a businessperson. Eric Piolle highlights his past as a senior executive in the industry at Hewlett-Packard to set himself apart from other candidates. An asset for green activists?
Sandrine Rousseau, the feminist economist
Sandrine Rousseau wants to embody a feminist environmentalist and in particular to make the voice of victims of sexual violence heard, while she herself publicly accused in 2017 the former green deputy Denis Baupin of sexual assault. The case, prescribed, was dismissed.
Her asset: the first declared candidate. Withdrawn from politics a few years after the Baupin affair to join the associative world, the former spokesperson for EELV returned to the party with a presidential ambition launched last October.
Its weakness: its radicality. The researcher in economics advocates “an environmental radicalism”, which could offend some of the voters if the primary attracts beyond simple activists.
Jean-Marc Governatori, ecology at the center
The co-president of the Cap ecology party wishes to embody “ecology at the center”, facing “the left” of EELV. His career is punctuated by multiple books (fight against drugs or insecurity, defense of small traders or the disabled, protection of animals …), and even a declared candidacy for the 2007 presidential election, for which he does not succeed. bring together the 500 sponsorships.
Its asset: a different profile. This ex-entrepreneur in discount furniture has been a various straight candidate in multiple elections. A line that clashes in this ballot.
His weakness: his criticism of EELV. Jean-Marc Governatori recently left the EELV list to apply solo for the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur regions.
Recent exclusion of his new ally Corinne Lepage for this environmentalist primary, against a background of dissension around secularism, could be a game-changer for the candidate.