The left is ultimately not moving towards total unity in the National Assembly. While Jean-Luc Mélenchon proposed on Monday that LFI, PS, EELV and PCF form a single group at the Palais-Bourbon, the refusal was clear from its partners.
According to a count which includes the deputies from Overseas, but without prejudging the choice of the socialist dissidents and several elected representatives on the left, the Nupes should have at least 150 representatives in the hemicycle.
The leader of the Insoumis was unanimous against him on the occasion of a sudden exit and, according to his entourage, unplanned. In front of the headquarters of LFI in Paris, he proposed that the Nupes be constituted “as a single group”, worried about the possibility of seeing the RN and its 89 deputies embody the opposition. However, he explained that it was a “proposal, not an injunction”.
“It was never about a single group”
The response was not long in coming. Not only the head of the outgoing PS deputies Valérie Rabault, unenthusiastic about the Nupes, but also the spokesman of the PS Pierre Jouvet, kingpin of the agreement, opposed a frank refusal. “It was never about a single group. There will be a socialist group in the National Assembly,” said the latter.
The head of EELV Julien Bayou wanted to be diplomatic but firm: “We are complementary and our forces will be more effective in the National Assembly if we exist thanks to four groups rather than one”. Same story with the Communists and their leader Fabien Roussel: “For the left it will be more speaking time and more drawing rights (commissions of inquiry, parliamentary niches)”.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is however aware of walking on eggshells, providing a way out: “Naturally I will leave it to what the groups decide”. Mathilde Panot, president of the group of outgoing LFI deputies, also made a new offer for this unique group: “We must collectively find the conditions: I am in favor of a rotating presidency and the maintenance of delegations by political formation” .
The results constitute “a form of disappointment”
This episode comes as the various left-wing parties are still dealing with the relative disappointment of the results of the second round. “We hoped to lead the country […], there is a form of disappointment, ”acknowledged Paul Vannier, head of elections at LFI and elected in Val-d’Oise. Not only is Jean-Luc Mélenchon not Prime Minister, but the Nupes result is below the expectations of many executives who, in private, were counting up to 200 deputies.
The Socialists can consider about thirty deputies. Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS, feels a “mixed feeling, the joy of having succeeded with this rally, but the disappointment because we had taken to believing in a victory for the left”. With 23 deputies, environmentalists can also be satisfied. It is “the largest environmental group in history in the National Assembly”, declared Julien Bayou. Having 15 deputies to form a group, on the other hand, promises to be more tense for the PCF which, with its 12 elected representatives, will have to convince elected representatives from Overseas or Corsica to join it.