On the strength of a historic agreement for the legislative elections concluded overnight with EELV, La France insoumise is trying Monday to go further by resuming negotiations with the PS and the PCF, with the aim of going quickly and projecting itself towards the Saturday inaugurations. With the creation of the “New popular ecological and social union”, the protagonists of the long negotiations between EELV and LFI proclaimed their satisfaction in chorus in the radio and TV morning shows on Monday morning.
A historic agreement
“It’s exceptional, but it’s up to the voters to make it historic” with a “victory” in the June legislative elections, said Julien Bayou, national secretary of EELV, on BFMTV. “We have taken a very strong first act” to the union of much more often divided lefts, he welcomed. “It’s historic because there has never been an agreement in history between EELV and LFI at the national level for legislative elections”, underlined for his part Manuel Bompard, the head of the rebellious negotiators, on France Inter.
“And this is historic because it triggers the beginning of a dynamic, which aims to ensure that the legislative elections are approached with a majority perspective”, he added. “This is not an agreement between LFI and EELV, we want to build a common banner with all the forces of the left to build a majority”, warned Julien Bayou, hoping that the PS and the PCF enter into the alliance on Monday.
Faure pleads for the rally
At the Paris headquarters of LFI, negotiations resume around noon with the Socialists and, novelty of the day, EELV will participate in the discussions, while the meetings held until then by LFI were bilateral. The first secretary of the PS Olivier Faure pleaded on Sunday for the rally: “We have to be able to listen to each other, to get along and to understand each other. I don’t know if an agreement will be concluded. But I wish”. He has to deal with the internal rebellion of a minority current and several historical figures of the PS, from François Hollande to Jean-Christophe Cambadélis via Stéphane Le Foll, who accuse him of “submission” to LFI, an antagonistic movement in recent years. years on subjects such as secularism or Europe.
As for the Communists, they will be welcomed at 2 p.m. “I hope that today we too will be able to conclude this agreement during the day, in the evening, in the night if necessary, until the end”, hammered their boss Fabien Roussel on franceinfo. “There is no plan B, there is only plan A: to come together and manage to build this great coalition of the left to finally take our revenge on this presidential election”.
No exit from the EU
Because this enlarged “Popular Union” has the declared objective of sending Jean-Luc Mélenchon to Matignon, by obtaining a majority in the National Assembly.
Hence the bitter negotiations to settle disputes, such as on “disobedience” to certain European rules. The text of the agreement between rebels and environmentalists confirms the possibility of disobeying if the EU prevents the program from applying, but only in budgetary and economic cases. Any escalation towards an exit from the EU is prohibited, as requested by the Greens.
“A step has been taken”
Electorally, the Greens won around 100 constituencies, 30 of which were deemed winnable. Enough to guarantee the environmental pole to have a group – minimum 15 deputies – in the hemicycle. “We have not been the best served, many requests have not been validated”, in certain city centers such as Marseille, Rennes or Nantes, regrets Alain Coulombel, one of the environmental negotiators, with the AFP.
“But a step has been taken, for the first time since … Methuselah we have reached an agreement”, rejoices this member of the left wing of EELV. The investiture convention of the members of this “New popular ecological and social union” will take place in the Paris region on May 7. The objective is to allow everyone to enter the campaign quickly, first and foremost the leader of this alliance, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.