PS boss Olivier Faure and EELV MEP Yannick Jadot in Blois, August 29, 2020. – ISA HARSIN / SIPA
- About fifteen representatives of left-wing parties will meet on Saturday morning in Paris at the invitation of EELV MEP Yannick Jadot.
- But the union of the left seems complex, and the different parties are not convinced that this meeting will lead to something concrete.
- Polls indicate that left-wing or environmental candidates are struggling, increasing the pressure on a fragmented political camp.
She might never have seen the light of day. The great meeting of left-wing leaders desired by Yannick Jadot at the end of March will however materialize this Saturday morning. At the initiative of the MEP EELV, the headliners of the left and the ecology will sit at the same table to discuss a union for the presidential election. After controversies that have fragmented these political currents, ideological differences and personal ambitions weigh on hopes of rallying, while
surveys indicate that the left might not be present in the second round of the ballot in a year.
The left badly rated for 2022
Other opinion polls also plague the left, suggesting that its candidates would lose to Marine Le Pen in a hypothetical second round against the National Rally. “If we go there divided, we have no chance of winning,” said Yannick Jadot by launching the invitation. It was finally by the boss of the PS Olivier Faure, the socialist mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, Europe ecology-Les Verts, rebellious France, the Communist Party, Generations (the party of Benoît Hamon), the ex-LREM deputy Mathieu Orphelin , the Radical Left Party, Cap 21, or even Place publique, the formation of MEP Raphaël Glucksmann.
The mayor of Grenoble Eric Piolle, and the academic Sandrine Rousseau, candidates for the primary of the Greens and probable opponents of Yannick Jadot (who won the green primary in 2016), are also announced present at this meeting, which will take place in a hotel in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
Reluctance of the rebellious
Despite this long guest list, this meeting should not produce a miraculous union. “Have a good understanding, discuss our programs, okay. But let’s not sow the illusion that a common candidate will be appointed or that we will resuscitate the plural left, ”Judge Eric Coquerel, who will represent rebellious France. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, already declared a candidate and currently the best rated on the left in the presidential polls, will be absent, traveling to Latin America.
“We must not make people believe that we are going to end up with the forceps in the development of a common program. There are too many differences to be united in the first round, ”continues the deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis. “But at EELV, there are people closer to us than Hidalgo, so we are interested in coming and discussing. “
Personal ambitions and divisions
Even in the political family of Yannick Jadot, enthusiasm is more than moderate. “We should not expect too much from this meeting, because we are already talking,” suggests Julien Bayou, national secretary of EELV. “It’s also to show that we are able to talk to each other. There is no question, however, of deviating from the calendar planned by the party, whose primary will take place in July. “We can manage to create a coalition and ecology can be its backbone. The question of incarnation will come later, ”said the boss of the Greens.
“Yannick is in a personal process to promote his candidacy,” tackled the environmental MEP David Cormand, who expects nothing from the “staging” of Saturday. For rebellious Eric Coquerel, the meeting can however “serve to say that even if we are competitors, we are not necessarily opponents, especially with a view to a second round”. But for now, the qualification of a left or green candidate seems far from won.