A few days before the first round of the legislative elections, Sunday June 12, the New People’s, Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) is facing a legal decision which could, in the long term, call into question the left alliance. Tuesday, June 7, the judicial court of Créteil, seized in summary proceedings at first instance by four socialist activists, challenged the conditions for validation of Nupes by the Socialist Party (PS). According to the judgment, the leadership of the PS should have organized a national convention, which includes the militants. And not be satisfied with a vote of the national council, the “parliament” of the PS, on May 5, to endorse this agreement between the PS, La France insoumise (LFI), the French Communist Party (PCF) and Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) to give birth to Nupes.
In his decision, the judge ordered the PS to organize a national convention within thirty days, under penalty of a financial penalty of 500 euros per day. “We got everything we asked forconfirms Maître Frédéric Scanvic, lawyer for the four applicants. Enjoin the PS to organize a national convention. We also asked that the PS not be able to take advantage of the agreement, in particular not to be able to exclude dissidents from the party who presented themselves outside the Nupes agreement. That’s what the court decided. »
“The debate on the merits decided by the congress”
The PS decided to appeal the decision – an appeal which is not suspensive – and reacted under the pen of Corinne Narassiguin, number two of the party, who sent a letter to the first federals: “At a time when the gathering of the left and ecology is experiencing a real political dynamic, some members of our party wanted to play into the hands of the presidential majority and thus reveal their true intentions by attacking the Nupes, by all the means of procedure and by turning to the judges. (…) Such a national convention could not have been organized within the time allowed before the deadline for submitting applications, on 20 May. Moreover, this is not disputed by the applicants, thus demonstrating their sole desire to harm a political dynamic. We consider, moreover, that the debate on the merits will be settled by the congress of the PS which will be held in the fall of 2022.
Corinne Narassiguin notes, however, “that the judge in chambers did not cancel the agreement which binds the PS to the Nupes nor the designations and supports adopted by the national office. “It is logical that the court did not censor the Nupes agreement itself, since it was not our request”turn back Me Scanvic.
The PS knew that its internal procedural choice could be challenged in court. In the preamble to the national council of May 5, which had validated, with 62% of the votes, the agreement of the Nupes, Patrick Mennucci, member of Debout the socialists, the minority current of the party, had warned: “Article 5.1.1 of the party obliges, for a political agreement of this nature, the meeting of a national convention and the consultation of its militants. It seems necessary to enforce the statutes of the party. »