“It is the eternal return of a talented woman but who is not able to bring together the socialists”, launched François Kalfon, member of the national office of the Socialist Party, at the microphone of France 2. brilliance of Ségolène Royal, eager to lead a list of union of the left in the next European elections, was greeted with skepticism or irony among the parties of the Nupes, in particular among the socialists gathered Saturday in summer university in Blois.
It is as much the prospect of having the former presidential candidate of 2007 as head of the list as that of an alliance with France Insoumise that the Socialists reject, even if a “unionist” line persists, embodied by the deputy from Essonne Jérôme Guedj. The first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure, who spoke in favor of an autonomous list for the European elections of June 2024, like the environmentalists and the communists, must speak at the end of the morning.
“Dynamics of union”
Ségolène Royal created a surprise on Friday by making offers of service, when she was the guest of the summer days of France insoumise, a party which she approached after having supported Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the last presidential election.
“It is a question of launching a dynamic of union”, declared Ségolène Royal. Could she lead this list herself? “That’s the idea,” she replied, adding that she had been thinking about this project since “before the summer”.
“Dozens of points of convergence”
Jérôme Guedj, who met her “in recent weeks”, regretted Olivier Faure’s position on RMC on Saturday morning. “Me, I call for us not to close the curtain like that brutally” to a possible union list. If he does not comment on the personality of Ségolène Royal to lead it, the deputy insists on the “dozens of points of convergence” between the different parties of the New Popular, Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), rather than on this who opposes them.
However, the European question remains one of the main stumbling blocks between Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) and the PS on the one hand, holding a pro-European or even federalist line, and La France Insoumise and the Communist Party of the other, opposed to several treaties of the European Union.
“Are we ready to disobey the (European) treaties? »
Differences that did not fail to recall Saturday morning on France 2 François Kalfon, figure of the anti-Nupes line. “Are we socialists ready to disobey the (European) treaties? “, he wondered, before recalling that his party was “clear” on the question of Ukraine, as opposed to the Insoumis and their “refusal” to qualify the Wagner group as a “terrorist organization” in the European Parliament. .
If the caciques of the PS are mainly in favor of an autonomous list of their party for European women, the young socialists are “very favorable to the union”, as their president Emma Rafowicz explains. “But we are very loyal to our party,” she adds.
” Unblock the situation “
Only the rebellious, who have been campaigning for months for a single list of parties of the New Popular, Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), have welcomed Ségolène Royal’s approach. She “could be the missing piece that unlocks the situation”, for example posted Raquel Garrido on X (ex-Twitter).
“When you are a columnist at (Cyril) Hanouna, you have to make a buzz, obviously, she is already a columnist”, mocks a socialist deputy. The former president of the Poitou-Charentes region will indeed be present in the controversial program Do not touch My TV, on C8, at the start of the school year. A participation criticized on the left, in the same way as ambiguous statements in recent months on the war in Ukraine or the Covid-19 pandemic.