Lionel Jospin enters the arena of the European campaign. The former socialist Prime Minister came to support the head of the PS/Place publique Raphaël Glucksmann list on Wednesday, during a campaign at the end of the day in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.
Raphaël Glucksmann “is one of the heads of the list to be the most legitimate in this election today”, judged the former head of government, aged 86, stressing that he had already voted for him in the European elections of 2019.
According to Jospin, Europe “is threatened”
“The second reason why I fervently support him is that his course towards Europe is clear,” added this tutelary figure of the left. “He knows that we must not undo Europe today when it is threatened.”
Raphaël Glucksmann, whose list credited with 15% of voting intentions according to a new poll published Wednesday follows that of the majority, for his part expressed his “pride” and his “pleasure” in campaigning with the former Prime Minister. “Everything you embody is what we need. It’s clarity, it’s fidelity, it’s solidity and it’s integrity,” he continued.
The two men, surrounded by a horde of journalists, walked the streets distributing leaflets, particularly to onlookers seated on the terrace. “Sorry for ruining your aperitif,” Raphaël Glucksmann apologized to a table disturbed by the presence of the media. “Plus it’s counterproductive, you will vote for another list.” “Ah, not at all, I’m voting for you,” one of the consumers reassured her. A little further on, a trader explained to him that he would not vote for him, judging that he was “raising the extremes” by accusing La France insoumise of being responsible for his expulsion during the May 1 demonstration in Saint -Etienne.
Manuel Bompard is ironic
Asked to know if Raphaël Glucksmann could be the one who can bring together the left after Nupes, Lionel Jospin preferred not to get involved. “We are in the European election, that is its field of vision, that is its essential concern.”
Lionel Jospin, the man of the “plural left”, rarely intervenes in public debate. “Jospin is the left from before. We could ask Raphaël Glucksmann if he planned to distribute leaflets with François Hollande too,” quipped the coordinator of La France insoumise, Manuel Bompard, on Wednesday. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who was a minister under Lionel Jospin, for his part often uses a laudatory tone to speak of his former Prime Minister. The latter “would have changed the history of the left and of France” if he had been elected president in 2022, believes the rebellious leader.