Olivier Véran denounces the “left watermelon”; left-wing elected officials are offended
Several left-wing leaders on Monday denounce the use of the expression “left watermelon” by the government spokesman, Olivier Véran, to criticize the New People’s Ecological and Social Union (Nupes). The expression is attributed to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right National Front (FN) party.
“I know what the left is called – sorry, it’s not very nice to say that – the watermelon left, green outside and red inside, it’s above all LFI post-Trotskyism with a little green varnish around “had criticized the minister on Sunday evening on LCI by denouncing the attitude of the Nupes in the Assembly. “The left of government, the one that is capable of making difficult decisions (…), this left, I do not find it today in Nupes; there are some in Nupes, they will reveal themselves, they will peel off, at some point Mélenchon’s posture will be unbearable for them.added the former socialist deputy (2012-2015).
“Can someone tell him that this expression was invented by Jean-Marie Le Pen? », reacted on Twitter the deputy of La France insoumise, Manuel Bompard. “By dint of copying the words of the Le Pen family, they will end up copying their ideas”added LFI MEP Manon Aubry, on the same social network. “1) It’s an expression of Jean-Marie Le Pen. 2) It’s good, watermelon », mocked the spokesman of the French Communist PartyIan Brossat.
“To take up a formula from Jean-Marie Le Pen, there they are. If the extreme right were not at the gates of power through their fault, it would only be pathetic. There, it is dramatic », worried Generation.s MP Benjamin Lucaswho sits in the environmental group.
The socialist senator, Rachid Temal, also reacted on Twitteraccusing the Minister of“to have Jean-Marie Le Pen as a reference…”
Now widely disseminated by its detractors, the expression “left watermelon” was first used by the former president of the FN, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who, from May 1989, featured a cut-up watermelon on TV to illustrate what, according to him, the ecologist party was.