SAre we doomed to think like Jean-Luc Mélenchon? This is the whole question that the left will have to decide. In front of us, the National Rally which emerged strengthened from the last elections. Marine Le Pen, thanks to her popular roots, is now in a position to win. The RN is continuing its strategy of normalization in the National Assembly, with representatives in “suits and ties” convinced this time of having broken through the dike that existed between them and the right-wing electorate.
I say it, the logic of tension and “chilling” displayed by the Nupes will never benefit the camp of progress, but rather that of the extreme right. There is therefore a real issue of ideological positioning for the socialist left as for the Greens, who are undergoing the same existential crisis, torn between a radical line – which I would describe as Rousseau’s Melenchonist – and that of ecological reformism.
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On the left, are we fungible in the ideological corpus of LFI? Economic instability and global political instability are affecting inflation, which will return to alarming levels. There will be social consequences, in our country and throughout Europe. In this deleterious context, advocating sovereignist insubordination, disobedience vis-à-vis Europe or betting on dissolution leads to taking a major risk: that of total destabilization.
From instability comes confusion. Italy cruelly reminds us of this.
Today, the Nupes is proposing a Keynesian revival of 250 billion a year: a 20% increase in the minimum wage, nationalizations, retirement at 60, the 32-hour week… For the ecologists, this is in total contradiction with their calls for sobriety, degrowth or their European commitment.
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Disobedience as a method of government, either vis-à-vis Europe or at home, by systematically questioning the republican order, cannot be our choice or our ambition. At this stage, only the common currency can cushion the inflationary shock for the less well-off, by avoiding the runaway on imported products.
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For lack of an original political definition and by refusing to choose, the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, as well as the ecologists gave up the wheel of the left to LFI. Results ? They condemn the left to remain in the minority, with the result that the country is right-winged. From instability comes confusion. Italy cruelly reminds us of this.
What is at stake in the 2024 European elections will be a simple choice. Remain in the radicalism of Nupes or remain within the European socialist family. This question will be decisive for the future of many within the PS, including mine.
A new left will defend secularism without compromise
What would the “new left”, which I call for, be the name of? The new left is the alliance between the European left, reformist ecology and French-style democratic socialism. To do this, we must get away from the logic of demands, assume the share of individual merit necessary for the success of all, understand that redistributing wealth is indeed better distributing it, but maintaining the investment dynamic necessary to preparing for the future. To sovereignism and nationalism, we oppose cooperation and pooling of means for the progress of all humanity.
The new left will not condemn the police but will help it carry out its missions in compliance with republican rules, will not deny the insecurity experienced by our fellow citizens but will deal with it with equal firmness. A new left will defend secularism without compromise, with respect for religions and the freedom of conscience due to each citizen. We will have to take into account the place of Islam in the Republic, without however endorsing the identity choices and their clothing translation. To be a republican is to defend the general interest. To be secular is to refuse to lock oneself into the sum of identity claims.
It is time to get out of this suffocating presidentialization.
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The new left will be for a new “eco-Keynesian” policy in order to support “safe growth”, likely to finance our unique social model, to encourage companies to invest, to stimulate loans in the energy transition.
A new left will have to change our institutions, think of a new democratic calendar, by strengthening the place of Parliament. It is time to get out of this suffocating presidentialization.
The left government must first address the French and the French. To return to business, she cannot take refuge in insubordination but must be ambitious. To La France insoumise, I prefer ambitious France.