VS’was the big surprise of the European elections in 2019. The very young Animalist Party, which no one had seen coming, had made a real show of force by winning 2.2% of the vote, without however obtaining a seat in the European Parliament. Since then, he has placed his first elected officials in municipal councils in favor of the 2020 elections and continues to mobilize to defend the animal cause. For the first time, it is presenting a candidacy for the presidential election of 2022, embodied by Hélène Thouy, one of its founders.
If she does not claim to be elected, the 38-year-old lawyer nevertheless considers her candidacy essential to advance the animal cause, mistreated, she says, by Emmanuel Macron during his five-year term. End of intensive farming, ban on hunting… Hélène Thouy assures us that her ideas are widely shared by the population, but blocked by politicians under the influence of lobbies. Considering that none of the contenders for the Élysée is up to the challenge, the Animalist Party intends to put its stamp on the election, without giving in to the sirens of alliances.
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Point : You are credited with 0.5% to 2% depending on the surveys. Are you really aiming for the Élysée or are you more of a testimonial candidacy?
Helen Thouy: The animal cause is of increasing concern to the French and there has not been enough progress on this subject. The presidential election is the flagship election, it is the one that will determine the political agenda for the next five years. We are not here to testify, but to advance ideas and adopt ambitious measures for animals. It is really a commitment so that things change and that, failing to govern by ourselves, our ideas govern.
Why not team up with another candidate who could support your ideas?
Our objective is clear, it is to go all the way. We will not make an alliance. The animal cause goes beyond political divisions. We do not want to make the animal cause a small business that will bring us back to each election. What we want is for it to move forward. And if we really want the cause to move forward, we mustn’t confine it to one party or one candidacy.
Emmanuel Macron has made the massacre of animals the great cause of the quinquennium!
In 2007, Nicolas Hulot had the candidates sign an “ecological pact” to commit to integrating these issues into their programme. Why not consider a similar strategy for the animal cause?
There are already NGOs that have come together to submit concrete proposals to candidates. I am the only one, so far, to have answered it. What we want is for the animal cause and our ideas to spread. We have always said it since the creation of the party: there is no copyright on our measurements. That the candidates use in our program!
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How do you judge the proposals of the other candidates on this issue of animal welfare?
None are up to the challenge, that’s why I’m applying. All these people had mandates, were able to act for the animals, and they didn’t do much. None showed any real determination to change things. But since we made 2% in the European elections, it has not escaped anyone that our ideas are an electoral reservoir that can rock an election. All the political parties are trying to capture our electorate, but behind the announcement effects we have to have a real will. When we hear Yannick Jadot [le candidat écologiste, NDLR] to defend artisanal foie gras is that the subject is not mastered. The problem with foie gras is force-feeding. Whether you force-feed three geese in a small pen or force-feed 500, it’s still force-feeding.
It’s a form of “at the same time”…
They all do “at the same time”! They are well aware that the animal question is an increasingly important subject for citizens, but which divides within political parties and forces candidates to do the balancing act to spare almost everyone.
Aren’t you afraid of taking too drastic measures that could frighten citizens?
We are not advocating stopping the consumption or production of animal protein, only a reduction. Even if we don’t ask ourselves the question from the point of view of animal ethics, we will be forced to move towards this reduction, if only for environmental issues. Our measures are mostly supported by citizens, even on the ban on hunting. But hunters have presented themselves for years as representatives of rurality, politicians then think that they will alienate everyone in rural areas by going against hunting…
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Faced with powerful lobbies such as hunting, do you think that the democratic path you have chosen is sufficient? Others have chosen a sometimes violent activism…
It’s a real subject. If we have a major institutional crisis and an abstention which increases election after election, it is because the citizens no longer have the impression of influencing politics. I can understand that some people no longer believe in it. I have chosen to believe in our institutions and in democracy. It’s very difficult to change things, but despite everything we have levers and I don’t think we have the right to give up.
Has Emmanuel Macron been a good president for animals?
He made the massacre of animals the great cause of the quinquennium! There were a lot of expectations on this subject and the head of state made a lot of promises that he did not keep. Emmanuel Macron could have carried out ambitious reforms, but his record is disappointing. There have been advances, we can’t say the opposite, but nothing on breeding, hunting or bullfighting…
We are not going to give chickens the right to vote!
If you became President of the Republic at the end of April, what would be your first steps?
My first, immediate measure would be to stop the authorizations for the creation and extension of industrial and intensive farms, then to start the process so that at the end of the mandate, all the breeders who are in the intensive are there anymore. This means helping them financially and supporting them. We are not here to stigmatize. The breeders I meet can’t take it anymore: they work 70 hours a week to earn 500 euros a month. It is unworthy. We are at the end of this system, it must be reviewed.
The other major measure that we carry is food sovereignty. One in five French people do not have enough to eat, while resources are wasted considerably. Finally, we will create a Ministry of Animal Protection. This question is today in the remit of the Minister of Agriculture, we are really in the midst of a conflict of interest. We need a ministry in its own right, which can seriously deal with this subject, with the means.
Do you want to move towards legal equality between humans and animals?
Absolutely not. We are not going to give chickens the right to vote! But animals have interests, which we must defend. We must, for example, recognize that animals have the right to have parts of the territory reserved for them, free of any human activity. We also need to find alternative measures to rethink our relationship with animals. Hunting is therefore not the only solution for regulating the wild boar population and limiting the damage they cause to crops. Develop sterilization, stop feeding, identify plots at risk… There are plenty of other ways to do that than to kill them.
Is France behind on these questions?
Yes, we are late. Poll after poll, we see that citizens have expectations about the animal cause, but that policies do not change anything. I’m not even talking about breeding, we still have hobbies like hunting or bullfighting. There is a huge discrepancy. Look at the referendum on animals: it could not succeed, although it was supported by the citizens, because all the parliamentarians, through lobbying games, did not dare to sign or retracted.
The only argument that politicians understand is the loss of votes.
How to overcome these lobbies?
We give more space to citizens. Since 2017, we have held the citizens’ initiative referendum. Direct democracy is the solution, especially since in France, we have thresholds that make it extremely difficult to elect emerging political parties. In the Netherlands, the Animalist Party has elected members thanks to full proportional representation, not here. This tool available to citizens would allow them to address issues that fail to emerge.
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You do not want an alliance for the presidential election, but is it possible for the legislative elections? This could allow you to win a few constituencies and have deputies in the Assembly.
It’s not about making an alliance. We have already invested more than 100 candidates. The challenge for us is to be present as much as possible to show that there are citizens everywhere who want this subject to move forward… And to get the other candidates to understand that they will no longer be able to do the impasse on this subject at the risk of continuing to lose votes. Before creating the Animalist Party, we tried to convince the political formations with rational arguments. But the only argument they understand is the loss of voice. That’s all that can shock them.
In the legislative elections, he was a cat; to Europeans, a dog; at the municipal elections, a squirrel… Who will be on your poster for the presidential election?
The secret is well kept for now! To be honest, it’s still under consideration. The presidential election is a particular election, very personified, and even if we have never chosen to highlight the candidate, we will surely have to take some codes into account.