This is one of the highlights expected by the left, before the legislative elections. This Sunday evening, negotiations must be concluded between La France Insoumise, Europe Écologie-les Verts (EELV), the Socialist Party (PS), the French Communist Party (PCF) and the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA), with a view to proposing joint candidacies, to hope to weigh in the National Assembly.
If Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s score in the presidential election changes the situation (22%) and forces EELV and the PS to recognize its position of strength and therefore to be more conciliatory, the outcome of the negotiations seems far from certain. We are “still in the dark”, slips to AFP Alain Coulombel, one of the negotiators of EELV, the party which until now has given the most guarantees concerning the agreement for the legislative elections. The PS and the PCF brake four irons. What to fear an extension.
EELV looks at the others before signing
The desire to conclude an agreement however seemed real between LFI and EELV, this Saturday, after some disappointments during the week, in particular on the number of constituencies. The two formations have tackled in depth the themes that could get in the way, such as Europe, the sharing of constituencies or even the mode of organization of the alliance, during the last two weeks.
An agreement “is in sight”, had hoped the leader of the Greens Julien Bayou Friday morning. However, he slipped to AFP on Saturday that EELV was attentive to discussions with the other parties before concluding: “We want things to move forward, with everyone, and between everyone”. However, between LFI, the PS and the PCF, negotiations are at a standstill.
Will the PS play extra time?
Can the PS find an agreement with its best enemy on the left, in the hours to come? “I don’t know, but I want it. We continue to discuss everything, substantive issues, constituencies, strategy, ”said Olivier Faure on France Inter this Sunday.
With the Socialist Party, the reconciliation started in the middle of the week will take time, and could even force the forces of the left to play extra time. The Socialists did not reopen the negotiations after having “suspended” them on Friday noon. In question, argued the party leadership: the “hegemonic” attitudes of LFI.
For some elected PS officials, several measures represent a red line (retirement at 60, partial disobedience to Europe, price freezes, etc.). Worse, granting too many candidacies to LFI could fuel the downfall of the PS, which fears disappearing while its local roots remain relatively strong.
These delays when the PS had initially signed a common programmatic base do not help: in a private loop, Olivier Faure wished that the internal divisions are not unpacked in broad daylight, at the risk of lightening the weight of the PS in the negotiations, after the score of 1.7% of Anne Hidalgo in the presidential election.
The discussions are bogged down, but “the link is in no way broken” with LFI, a PS negotiator assured AFP on Saturday. “The discussions, we hope, will continue. In a negotiation, there are always periods of stopping, sudden accelerations. In the hours and days to come, there will be restarts and shutdowns, ”he tried to reassure.
The account is still not there for the PCF
“After several days of discussion with our partners, we note that the proposals of La France insoumise which has the primary responsibility for allowing this gathering have not allowed at this time” an agreement, declared Saturday the national executive committee of the PCF .
The formation of Fabien Roussel (2.3% in the presidential election) calls for “the holding of a joint meeting as soon as possible”, rather than “separate bilateral meetings”. The communists want “a coalition of forces without hegemony and a common label which reflects the expression of our diversity, for example the popular union of the left and the ecologists gathered”.
Behind this brake also hides the thorny question of the number of constituencies, central even if Jean-Luc Mélenchon still assured Saturday evening on France 2 that it was secondary. “I refuse to discuss anything until the programmatic questions have been decided,” he said.
Like the PS, PCF negotiators are worried about having enough elected officials to form a group in the Assembly, and thus avoid being made invisible by the LFI. According to them, the agreement must therefore, in addition to their 11 outgoing deputies, allow “personalities recognized for their field commitments” to be invested. They list 14.
Mélenchon press
For the time being, LFI has only concluded an agreement with Génération. s Thursday, the negotiations continuing with all the other forces of left during this weekend. The hypothesis of extensions is reinforced, which annoys Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The latter had, after the second round, “warned” all his potential partners: “People will not accept twice to be robbed of victory by those who refuse to build this new majority”.
This Saturday, the leader of France Insoumise in the JDD the left parties to come out of “the permanent culture of defeat”, regretting that they “let themselves be absorbed by their internal issues” of the PS, and of EELV, whose the approaching congress stirs up tensions. “We offer them a battle to win. It’s unifying, isn’t it? They have to get out of the lose”, and “assume the will to win”, he exclaimed.
Will the burst of pride take place? Answer this Sunday evening… Or not, then. The parties have already refused a symbol of the union. They will not parade together on May 1, Fabien Roussel having preferred Lille to Paris. In the event of an extension, the parties will have in mind the electoral calendar: they will have until May 20 to present their candidates in each of the 577 French constituencies.