DBack to school for Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV). The party, which wanted to rebuild and expand during the summer, above all had to manage the fallout from its own attempts to create a buzz – like the invitation of the rapper Médine – and suffered political blows from its partners in the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes). On October 14, EELV has planned to stage its transformation by becoming Les Ecologistes, at the end of the Estates General supposed to “open wide” party gates.
Despite the remarkable installation of Marine Tondelier at their head and while a majority of French people say they are concerned about acting against global warming, the Greens are starting the autumn in a corner, during a return to school where the government imposes its themes. During the meeting of party leaders around Emmanuel MacronWednesday, August 30, the climate issue was almost absent – despite the attempts of Mme Tondelier –, the president nevertheless recognizing the decision of the Council of State suspending the dissolution of the movement Les Uprisings of the Earth. Ecologists and La France insoumise (LFI) asked him to stop the “criminalization” environmental movements, he did not commit himself to anything.
On the Medina controversy, the elected ecologists, some admit it frankly, gave the stick to be beaten. A ” little mistake “A ” issue “ or even a “big bullshit”, EELV executives apply the full range of language to the invitation to debate with the rapper. She lent her flank to accusations of laxity on anti-Semitism, even though the party has some of the most committed activists on the issue, as evidenced by the organization by the Greens, in April in the Senate, of a day of Study on Jew Hatred. The Greens took this controversy head-on and were torn over the attitude to adopt. While LFI, which had also invited the artist, denied outright that he or his tweets could be anti-Semitic, without batting an eyelid.
Helpless and angry
Media-wise, the activist culture of the Greens has disadvantages. Among ecologists, disagreements are exposed, the nuances are innumerable. David Cormand, former number one of the party, umes it: “Activist, etymologically, it comes from military, it’s the opposite of what we are. Politically, it’s a handicap, yes, maybe, but if we didn’t have that anymore, we wouldn’t be green. » He also deplores a certain temptation to “to speculate on the collective” : “There is nothing easier for being in the media when you are Green than to speak ill of the Greens. » This also applies to political partners and opponents. From Valence, Jean-Luc Mélenchon did not hesitate to mock, among the Greens, “the sense of appropriateness that we have always recognized in them”talking about the European elections of 2024 and their refusal to lead a common list.
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