Who to take the head of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) after the resignation of Julien Bayou? The answer to the question will not be long in the approach of the congress. In any case, there will be seven motions in the running, as announced on Tuesday, October 20, the deadline for submitting lists, the party’s deputy national co-secretary, Léa Balage El-Mariky, to Agence France-Presse.
The latter have collected the 112 signatures necessary to be represented at the congress which will be held in two stages, with first, on 26 November, a “decentralized congress”where the federations will elect their delegates who will be those who will then vote, on December 10, to choose the list that will take the leadership of the party, during the federal congress.
The list led by Marine Tondelier given as favorite
This “exploded offer” testifies to the different currents that coexist and sometimes clash within the party.
First there is the municipal councilor of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais) Marine Tondelier, who will lead the “La Suite” list, with the stated ambition of totally “refound” the party, despite the failure of the referendum it held internally to propose the simplification of the party’s statutes. In a letter sent to EELV activists at the beginning of October, the latter voluntarily presented itself as an alternative for the future of the party, believing that it “has suffered too much from individualism”.
Close to former national secretaries Cécile Duflot, David Cormand and Julien Bayou, she is a favorite in the succession of the latter, who resigned from his post of national secretary at the end of September after accusations of psychological violence made by his ex-companion and publicly reported by Sandrine Rousseau. It is also supported by several environmental mayors, including the city councilor of Grenoble, Eric Piolle, or Léa Balage El-Mariky.
The former presidential candidate and MEP Yannick Jadot, as well as the deputy and former number two of the party Sandra Regol for their part signed the motion “Green Spring”, carried by the regional councilor of New Aquitaine Sophie Bussière.
MP and activist “ecofeminist” Sandrine Rousseau supports the “Earth” motion, led by one of her relatives, the municipal councilor of Lille Mélissa Camara, announced as second in the running behind Marine Tondelier. Behind this motion, Mr.me Rousseau is allied with part of the left wing of the management of EELV, currently represented on the executive board by the party’s spokesman, Alain Coulombel.
The former regional candidate in Brittany Claire Desmares-Poirrier presents the motion “What binds us”, while the head of elections Hélène Hardy and the MEP Karima Delli joined in the motion “L’Arche” . The member of the executive office Géraldine Boyer leads the list “Rebellion construction” while Philippe Stanisière presents “Green democracy”. These last two lists must still be validated on Friday, due to the low margin of signatures obtained above the quorum, said Léa Balage El-Mariky.
A “split offer” against a background of internal crisis
This “split offer” in seven motions, much more important than at the previous congress held in 2019, when there were four of them, does not mean “that we have returned to the punk age of eco-friendly people”assured Léa Balage El-Mariky.
According to the one who co-directs EELV with Jérémie Crépelle since the resignation of Julien Bayou, this episode “will not be the subject of the congress but has contributed to an atmosphere” more or less electric internally. Added to this is the heavy defeat of Yannick Jadot during the presidential election, with a score of less than 5%, acknowledging the failure of political ecology on the national scene, after the encouragement of the European and municipal elections.
Thus, M.me Balage El-Mariky assures us: the election of new leaders will be played out on “the relationship to the territories, the relationship to the Nupes and the refoundation of the party”. “It would be a lie to say that there are no ego problems, but not that much”, “People intend to defend such an identified or even identity point” in their own motion, analyzes the deputy mayor of the 18e district of Paris.
Mr. Bayou having been elected deputy last June – a function which cannot be combined with the function of national secretary according to the statutes of the ecologist party –, a party congress to replace him was already planned for the end of the year, before his resignation.