Macron’s argument
It happens to very good people, who, with advancing age and growing bank account, quietly let themselves slide from left to right. Emmanuel Macron’s first term had the practicality that we could continue to call ourselves left-wing and support liberal-inspired policies, long defended by the right. The Nupes obliges, now, with a true ideological clarity.
The 2027 Argument
You criticize this alliance by emphasizing that it is the marriage of cabbage and carrots. You forget that the common program of François Mitterrand, in 1981, and the plural left of Lionel Jospin, in 1995, also brought together diametrically opposed positions. This is often the price to pay for gaining power. The Nupes is the first step to prepare a common left candidacy in 2027.
The retirement argument
Retirement at age 60 for all, the minimum wage at 1,500 euros… it takes you out of your hinges. For you, these measures are totally demagogic, because they ignore their financing and their economic consequences for companies. However, the left in power is first and foremost a form of radicality: in 1981, it was nationalization and the fifth week off. In 1995, the 35 hours. In 2012, the 75% tax on high incomes.
Macron’s counter-argument
You have always voted for the left, and now you feel like an orphan. If there is no question for you of supporting a Renaissance candidate, it is out of the question to vote for La France insoumise which, at the start of the war in Ukraine, defended positions far from your convictions: refusal of economic sanctions, shipments of arms, defense of non-alignment… For you, being on the left means giving unconditional support to the Ukrainian people.
The 2027 Counter-Argument
The excesses and intolerance of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, against the press, justice and the elites in general, have never been your cup of tea. Not to mention its ambiguous positions with all the autocratic regimes on earth (China, Russia, Venezuela…). But you already have 2027 in mind, and you know that, without agreement from the left around a common candidacy, there is no chance of alternation. And as with a bit of luck Mélenchon will retire…
The counter argument of retirement
It is perfectly possible to be on the left and fiercely oppose retirement at age 60 for all, defended in the common program of Nupes. Because, ultimately, what could be more unequal than this ax of the legal age, which allows, in theory, executives who entered the labor market late in life after long studies, to exercise their right to retirement in having contributed much less than those who started working very young.