The boss of the PS Olivier Faure assured Sunday that he was in no way “dogged” by the leader of LFI Jean-Luc Mélenchon within the left alliance Nupes, in response to a criticism of the former socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
“The left is under the domination of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the leadership of the PS has allowed itself to be dogged”, accused Bernard Cazeneuve in Le Journal du dimanche (JDD), where he launched a manifesto for “another left” with 400 personalities.
Olivier Faure told France inter-Franceinfo-Le Monde that the expression had “amused” him. Bernard Cazeneuve “mélenchonisé” using this term “toutouisé”, from the “LFI register”, he tackled. “We are approaching a Congress (early 2023, editor’s note), there are people who seek to create tension, that’s the game,” added the leader of the PS.
Bernard Cazeneuve, who left the PS after the Nupes agreement, believes that “another left is possible, which breaks with excess and sectarianism”. Its manifesto was initialed by the mayor of Le Mans Stéphane Le Foll, the ex-First Secretary of the PS Jean-Christophe Cambadélis or the leader of the minority current of the PS opposed to the pro-Nupes line Hélène Geoffroy, mayor of Vaulx- in-vellum.
Olivier Faure observed that among the signatories were also “long-time supporters of Emmanuel Macron” as well as “people who asked to be supported by the Nupes in the legislative elections”.
But “if we don’t like the ecologists, the rebellious, or the communists, if we don’t like anyone on the left, with whom do we intend to govern? “, continued Olivier Faure, while Bernard Cazeneuve sent spades to each other. “If we want to join Emmanuel Macron, it’s a possibility” for his supporters, according to the number one of the PS.
For his part, Olivier Faure says that he “seeks to build a path for all of the left and environmentalists” and claims to have his “own path”.
There is no “subordination” with regard to LFI, he insisted, stressing in particular that “our votes are perfectly free” in the National Assembly.