Fabien Roussel has his recipe for seeing the left gain access to the Élysée. The head of the French Communist Party wants to launch a new rally of the left for the 2027 presidential election, pleading for an approach “from now on”, without excluding “this or that political force”.
“Why wait for the end of the Europeans? I would like us to start a new approach now to win in 2027,” he explains in an interview with Figaro Wednesday evening, calling for “building a credible prospect of victory”, with “a serious, funded program which repairs the country and reconciles the French”.
Roussel wants to “talk to everyone”
For him, “several important subjects” were not covered in the Nupes program, “produced in a few days, on a corner of the table”, in May 2022. “Our country deserves much better than that”, says he, while admitting that there will be “hard points” in the discussions, particularly on pensions or nuclear power.
Asked whether the LFI leader can represent the left, he judges that “today, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, like other Insoumis leaders, is scary. But I’m not here to award good points, don’t ask me to exclude this or that force.” “I want to talk to everyone, from Sophie Binet (the boss of the CGT) to Patrick Martin (president of Medef). I want to convince the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon like those of Marine Le Pen,” he insists.
Refusing the idea of already thinking about a process of nominating a single candidate, or a primary, he believes that “this is not the priority”. He pleads for “a candidacy which is not that of a party, but that of a gathering and a program”, without further details. “I make myself totally available to lead this fight. There may be several of us who do so. I am not closing the door to any scenario,” he concludes.