“This gathering of the left with La France insoumise, the Communist Party, EELV and the PS, is a historic gathering”, declared Friday, May 6 on franceinfo Pierre Jouvet, national spokesperson for the PS, negotiator with La France insoumise. The National Council of the PS adopted Thursday, May 5 in the evening at 62% the agreement with La France insoumise for the June legislative elections.
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franceinfo: Are you satisfied with this agreement?
Pierre Jouvet: I am relieved because I believe that what we are collectively building is a great hope in the country. This gathering of the left with La France insoumise, the Communist Party, EELV and the PS is a historic gathering. The French women and men were waiting for us, desperate for this disunity. We have proven that we have each been capable of knowing how to come together for the essentials, of converging on a common project to change people’s lives.
Olivier Faure declared that we had to stop having “the most stupid left in the world”. What do you think ?
He is right. We are divided on subjects which sometimes seem futile for the French. Through division, we left the way open to the liberals, to the right and to the extreme right. We see many fractures in this country, we see expectations, anger. This must find a political outlet in a response from the left and that is what we are going to do in these legislative elections.
Why didn’t you get together before the presidential election?
The system of the Fifth Republic is encysted with this candidacy for the presidency of the Republic where everyone wants to try to be the best placed, the best, and everyone can sometimes believe in their destiny. Individual egos have often taken over the collective interest. I am very happy that the socialists have made this country, that the ecologists have made it too, that the communists have made it and that we all find ourselves through this New Popular Ecological and Social Union and that we put the egos aside for the collective interest. This is good news and it really makes politics more beautiful.
Not everyone shares your opinion, some in the PS believe that the party denies its values. How do you answer them?
I don’t know how we deny our values. How will the Socialist Party be divided on the question of rallying the left? This is the legacy of François Mitterrand and Lionel Jospin the gathering of the left. Are we going to tear ourselves apart over retirement at age 60, which was one of the socialists’ finest social conquests? I don’t believe it either. On Europe, yes, we have differences but we have also found convergences. On the left, there are more convergences than divergences.