La France insoumise and Europe Ecologie – Les Verts have reached an agreement in anticipation of the legislative elections by making several compromises on subjects of contention:
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The name of the alliance was not insignificant in the eyes of both parties. For LFI, it was a question of keeping “People’s Union”, the brand identified with the presidential election, where its candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon won hands down the match on the left with nearly 22% of the vote. But EELV wanted at all costs to include the word “ecology”.
What the Insoumis have long refused, fearing that the Socialists and Communists will in turn ask for the presence of their name. They finally had to give in on this point by choosing the river name of “New popular ecological and social union”.
Beyond the name, EELV wanted a “coalition” so as not to merge into the Popular Union, at the mercy of an all-powerful Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The Insoumis reinforced them with the promise of intergroup meetings at the National Assembly and participation in the “Parliament of the Popular Union”, where the strategy is discussed in the presence of the leader of LFI. The Greens have agreed that the major objective is the appointment of Mélenchon to Matignon.
Europe
This was the main contentious point. EELV feared the potentially “frexitory” profile of LFI. But the Insoumis have been able to rely on the very real evolution of their doctrine since 2017. No more question of brandishing a plan B to exit the European Union in the event of a deadlock. LFI focused the discussions on the concept of “disobedience” to the treaties on certain points that would block the application of the program.
The Greens fought to include in the agreement the attachment to the European idea and the absolute refusal of an escalation towards leaving the EU. The two parties made a compromise around their common criticism of the current functioning of Europe, which they believe needs to be “reoriented”.
The text stipulates that it is necessary “to put an end to the neoliberal and productivist course of the European Union”, but that “a founding country of the European Union, France cannot have as its policy either the exit from the Union, nor its disintegration, nor the end of the single currency”. “Disobedience” will be possible in the event of “blockages”, “in particular economic and budgetary”. “We will be neither the first nor the last to do so, in France as in Europe”, it is specified.
The war in Ukraine
On NATO and the war in Ukraine, which opposed Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the presidential election, the negotiators stuck to a minimalist compromise. A declaration of principles for the search for peace, respect for the territorial integrity of countries and the start of “alter-globalization cooperation”.
Constituencies
The battle was tough. Environmentalists started by asking for 32 of the 100 most “winnable” constituencies. LFI replied with a proposal half as small. Which provoked the wrath of EELV. Finally, the environmental pole (EELV but also Generation Ecology by Delphine Batho and Generations founded by Benoît Hamon) will have a total of around 100 constituencies, of which around 30 (more or less) are winnable.
The geographic distribution of these constituencies was a sticking point. The Greens wanted the centers of the cities won in the municipal elections of 2020. They won their case in Bordeaux, Strasbourg or even in Lyon, less so in other metropolises. In Paris, they obtain the 3rd, 5th, 8th and 9th constituencies.