Insubordinate France reached an agreement with the PCF for the legislative elections on Tuesday, while negotiations continue with the PS, which said on Tuesday that it was “a few steps from a historic agreement” to join environmentalists and communists in the alliance.
“We wish to federate on the basis of an ambitious program all the forces which share it, while respecting their plurality and their autonomy”, writes the PCF in a press release.
Exit from nuclear power not mentioned
“On May 3, 1936, the Popular Front won the legislative elections. On May 3, 2022, we are coming together in a New Popular Ecological and Social Union,” tweeted party national secretary Fabien Roussel.
Minimum wage at 1,400 euros net, salary increase, retirement at 60, price freeze, ecological planning: the two parties have agreed on many programmatic points. But they do not mention the exit from nuclear power, which the Communists are opposed to. It is however mentioned in the agreement signed between LFI and EELV, according to Sandra Regol, number 2 of the ecologists.
50 constituencies obtained
According to André Chassaigne, president of the group of communist deputies, the PCF obtained, after a tough negotiation, 50 constituencies including 11 outgoing and five winnable “in conquest”: Vierzon, Dax, Denain, Creil and Lens-Avion. The agreement ratifies the objective of this union, namely obtaining a majority in the National Assembly and the appointment of Jean-Luc Mélenchon to Matignon.
It stipulates that “the pluralist majority that we want to constitute will be based on parliamentary groups from each of the components and will be equipped with an intergroup to complete and continue this joint work after the election”.
“The lefts are not so irreconcilable as that”
With the PS, an agreement was initially hoped for Monday evening or overnight, but “there are still some adjustments”, admitted Pierre Jouvet, the head of the socialist negotiators, on Europe 1. The current discussions concern “the programmatic content, the strategic issues, the distribution of constituencies”, specified Pierre Jouvet, assuring that the PS would be “respected”. Sweeping the potential subjects of discord on Europe and secularism, he was delighted to be able to show that “the left are not so irreconcilable as that”.
“I think that reasonably, things must be concluded today,” said LFI deputy Éric Coquerel on his arrival at LFI headquarters, where the negotiations were taking place.
The small NPA party also arrived on Tuesday morning. Its negotiator Antoine Lruche felt that the presence of the PS “posed a problem”, in that it represents, according to him, the “liberal policies” of recent decades.
The conclusion of the agreement with EELV, Sunday evening, plunged the left into a certain euphoria, they who are more used to being competitors and divided. The 22% of Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the presidential election, associated with the weakness of all the other forces, below 5%, forced the reconciliations.
Questions around the program and constituencies
All the protagonists have repeated that they want to conclude an agreement and at this stage, a failure of the negotiations would be a huge surprise. “There are both programmatic questions, but also questions of incarnation in each of our territories and therefore yes it takes a little time, it is progressing”, indicated on Sud Radio Stéphane Troussel, the PS president of the council. department of Seine-Saint-Denis.
The PS intends to preserve its 25 outgoing deputies and obtain other winnable constituencies. EELV had for its part negotiated its constituencies on the basis of its scores in the European and municipal elections, obtaining 100 constituencies of which around 30 were winnable.
An agreement subject to “debate” among the Socialists
But this rapprochement is not to the taste of a minority current and historical figures of the PS, such as François Hollande, the former first secretary Jean-Christophe Cambadélis or even Stéphane Le Foll. They believe that the radicalism of LFI threatens the social democratic identity of their party. Monday evening, a thousand party members demanded a consultation of members before any agreement with LFI.
Pierre Jouvet replied on Tuesday that “of course we will submit the agreement to the debate”, during the national office which will be held in the evening. He promised about the negotiations that he would not come out of them “being insubordinate” or “submissive”.
The president of the MoDem François Bayrou, an ally of Emmanuel Macron, complained “those who have exercised responsibilities in this great social-democratic current in the country”, who see “their party sign the ruin of everything they wanted to do “.