The Ecologists (the future new name of Europe Ecologie – The Greens) had a head of list for the European elections since this summer: Marie Toussaint. They now have a poster and a slogan: “Justice, peace, ecology”, which “20 Minutes” presents to you. The poster, predominantly green, gives ample space to Marie Toussaint, MEP for five years but largely unknown to the general public, and one of whose challenges is to make herself known. The slogan is more clear-cut than the very commonplace “Together, we can change everything”, by Yannick Jadot in 2019. More dramatic, too: environmentalists are taking the measure of a very different atmosphere from five years ago, climate marches from 2019 to war on European soil in 2024. This triptych “Justice, peace, ecology” clearly recalls that of the Popular Front: “Bread, peace, freedom”.
The first leaflet by Marie Toussaint, which “20 Minutes” was also able to obtain, marks this dramatization of the issues. “The climate and biodiversity are deteriorating, armed conflicts are increasing, inequalities are exploding. This world is becoming unlivable: we are more and more vulnerable”, are the first words of the head of the list. She names her main adversaries, the right and the extreme right, who “instead of defending the common good are fighting the ecological transition”. Faced with this observation, Marie Toussaint sets out her “horizon: to make life sweeter for millions of people”. “Gentleness in politics” is an idea that she developed in her speech during the Environmentalists’ Summer Day last summer, and that she plans to put forward during her campaign.
A major challenge for Marie Toussaint and the ecologists
This campaign, in fact, EELV and Marie Toussaint will launch it at the Elysée Montmartre, in Paris, on December 2. The leaflets and posters are being distributed to local EELV groups, and some have already started distributing them. The ecologists are in reality not the first to go into campaign: on the far right, Jordan Bardella for the RN and Marion Maréchal for Reconquête are already there. The PCF has also already covered some walls with posters where Fabien Roussel and his head of the list, Léon Deffontaines, are side by side.
For Marie Toussaint, the challenge is significant: the Jadot list created a surprise in 2019, obtaining more than 13% of the votes, by far the first list on the left. We are still far from the poll and for the moment, the Toussaint list is given between 7 and 10% depending on the polls, neck and neck with the socialist and rebellious lists. Marie Toussaint is less known than the probable heads of the LFI (Manon Aubry) and PS (Raphaël Glucksmann) lists. It will also have to, like the other left-wing lists, campaign despite the reproaches of a part of the left-wing electorate who regrets these divisions.
The 36-year-old lawyer, on the other hand, has her five years in office in the European Parliament and long experience as an environmental activist on her side. Via the association Our Affair to All, which she founded in 2015, she was one of the initiators of “The Affair of the Century”, aiming to sue the State for climate inaction. A legal fight won. The petition accompanying the complaint is still, to this day, the most signed in French History.