environmentalist Marie Toussaint kicks off her campaign

A little over six months before the European elections – which will take place next June – the environmentalists are officially entering the campaign with the first meeting, Saturday, in Paris, of Marie Toussaint, against a backdrop of anti-green “backlash”.

Marie Toussaint, the head of the environmentalist list in the European elections on June 9, 2024, is organizing her first meeting on Saturday December 2 at the Élysée Montmartre in Paris. A meeting with the mysterious title “Pulsations, meeting for the living”. There will be speeches from Marie Toussaint and her running mates of course, but also “artistic interventions” to “strike the heartstrings” of the public confides the head of the list, who has a sense of teasing.

The European elections take place in just over six months. This early start to the campaign is justified according to a deputy. “We must impose very early on the idea that a pro-European, environmentalist and humanist voter must vote for us”, he explains. The European election is generally favorable for the Greens, we remember Yannick Jadot’s third place in 2019. But the context is more difficult today according to Marie Toussaint, despite widespread eco-anxiety. The candidate anticipates a campaign with “the headwind” because the time has come for the “backlash”, in short the “anti-green backlash”. The far right and the right do not skimp on attacks against an alleged “green totalitarianism”. Hunter Willy Schraen will campaign against “punitive ecology”.

As for Emmanuel Macron, in the spring he called for a “regulatory break in environmental standards” at the European level. A minister is also in line with Marie Toussaint’s analysis: “it’s going to be complicated for ecologists, there is no time for moralizing in times of crisis”comments this minister. “Alliance of rights against ecology”, replies Marie Toussaint who will campaign on two fronts: end of the world and end of the month, climate and social justice, hence the presence on her list of the former yellow vest Priscillia Ludosky.

Polls give environmentalists around 8-10%. Their goal is a double-digit score, knowing that there is another issue: which left-wing list will come first? Environmentalists and socialists are close in the polls, with the Insoumis not far behind. “Our goal,” says a socialist, “is to be in front”. This is also the goal of environmentalists, because it is about rebalancing the balance of power on the left with a view to the presidential election.

The animalist party also enters the campaign

Saturday December 2, he launched his list in Lille with lawyer Hélène Thouy as leader. She did not have 500 sponsorships for the presidential election, but in the European elections, there was no barrier to entry. In 2019 the animalist party created a surprise by obtaining 2.2% of the votes. You inevitably have in mind the posters, sometimes with a cat, a dog, a duck depending on the polls. The party is still thinking about the animal that will appear on the 2024 poster.