Quite a symbol. During their installation at the Palais-Bourbon, at the end of June, the rebels were impossible to miss. The LFI deputies arrive in groups, shake their fists and chant “Macron we are here”. The environmentalists follow a little later, in scattered order, their heads often glued to their phone screens.
“It was a bit like two rooms, two environments,” commented a National Assembly administrator.
On the benches of Nupes, the first weeks thus saw the light of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s troops, when his ecologist, socialist and communist allies were very discreet. “We are not going to complain but we were wondering a little where they had gone”, smiles a deputy from rebellious France.
Elected officials “a little shy” at first
“We had a somewhat timid start and we were falling behind,” environmentalist deputy Benjamín Lucas bluntly admits to BFMTV.com.
In the midst of examining the text on purchasing power, Sandrine Rousseau, for example, defended, relatively alone, her group’s amendments. During this time, the rebels multiplied the strokes of brilliance on the floor, renaming Macron’s bonus the “smoking bonus.”
It must be said that in the group of environmentalists that has 23 elected deputies, after five years without any deputies, few were those who already knew the National Assembly, so the first weeks were dedicated especially to attracting their collaborators.
With 75 elected members now, the rebels are in their second term, with a quarter of the outgoing deputies. This enabled them to secure some key positions at the Palais-Bourbon early in their tenure.
The private jets recovered by the rebels
Within EELV, it was finally Julien Bayou – co-president of the group until his recent resignation – who brought the party out of lethargy. In the middle of summer, the elected Parisian announces Release his intention to “ban private jets”. “A very nice media stunt,” according to Marie Pochon, an environmentalist deputy for Drôme.
But at the beginning of the school year, it was the rebel and MP Thomas Portes who first drafted a bill to ban the use of these means of transport. What gives the impression that the rebels do not intend to leave space to environmentalists?
“It is true that it would have deserved more consultation, but the main thing is to put the issue in the public debate”, evacuates Christophe Bex, LFI deputy for Haute-Garonne.
Be that as it may, for Marie Pochon, an activist of the climate movements, it is rather on the street where the media acrobatics should be done. The elected official cites in particular the events of the Ibiza collective, made up mainly of EELV activists, which, for example, recently caught Gérald Darmanin during one of his trips.
“We let ourselves be locked up”
The Socialists are not much better off. They will be able to have outgoing deputies in their ranks, they have not shed more light than their peers from the EELV.
“We must think of a strategy to exist, to be recognized, to be credible,” admits Deputy Guillaume Garot, former minister of François Hollande.
“We work a lot, but it is possible that we have allowed ourselves to be locked into too technical issues,” continues François Hollande’s former minister. The Socialists have certainly been active, from launching a multi-party mission on medical deserts to Olivier Faure’s proposal for a shared initiative referendum on a “super-profit” tax, but they haven’t necessarily taken notice.
His congress scheduled for this winter does not make things easy. If Olivier Faure, who fiercely supported the LFI deal, is confirmed in his role as First Secretary, the roses will continue to play on their proximity to the rebels, without exaggerating their difference. In the event of a victory for the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin Hélène Geffroy, who has distanced herself from Nupes, the situation could change.
Roussel does his part
Among the communists, the strategy is different, even if it means creating division. In the role of the one who stands out as the center of attention, we find Fabien Roussel, general secretary of the PCF. At the start of the school year, the former presidential candidate joked about “chop sex” in Europe 1 to respond to environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau that she had considered the barbecue a “symbol of virility”.
Before leaving at the Fête de l’Humanité, at the beginning of September. Before the various components of the Nupes present, the deputy from the North opposed the “left of work” to that of the “allocs”, attracting the anger of all his partners.
“What this sequence shows is that the PC is in the light! Although we would like it to be otherwise, ”acknowledges Barbara Gomes, spokesperson for Fabien Roussel.
“We have to continue playing with our own shoes”, assumes one of his relatives. If he is in favor of common texts with the Nupes, he wants at all costs to “maintain the identity” of the communists. “We want to be useful to people above all”, says Yannick Monnet, PCF deputy for Allier.
Even if that means making surprising alliances. As a demonstration, the communists evoke the increase in the amount of agricultural pensions obtained by the group’s president, André Chassaigne, during the last legislature, with voices from the left but also from the Les Républicains (LR) party and from the government majority. .
In front of the RN, “we have to get along”
It remains to find the right balance to be heard without getting angry with your partners and without insulting the future. On the benches of the rebels, some point to the risk of Marine Le Pen coming to power in 2027 to try to keep the union behind, evoking Giorgia Meloni’s victory in the Italian legislative elections.
“If we don’t want an Italian-style future, we have to get along,” insists LFI MP Christophe Bex. “Otherwise we leave the National Rally as an alternative.”
Source: BFM TV
