for the European elections, “small” environmentalist parties want to defend an alternative to EELV

Several lists competing with the Ecologists-EELV hope to be able to stand out during the European ballot on June 9. The next European elections.

A score far from the 13.4% achieved by Yannick Jadot in 2019? Marie Toussaint, head of the Ecologists-EELV list, is at a meeting on Saturday May 3 in Bordeaux while her electoral campaign is struggling to take off. It is currently in fifth position, at 7%, in the Ipsos survey for franceinfo and The Parisian dated April 13.

The Environmentalists also face competing lists. Among these alternatives, we find Yann Wehrling, a former environment ambassador and former national secretary of the Greens. He is at the head of the Positive Ecology and Territories list. A list that aims to be “more realistic” in the face of environmental issues. “Ecology must build compromisesexplains Yann Wehrling. When we listen to what the farmers who demonstrated not long ago are saying, they weren’t saying that they didn’t want to be eco-friendly. They don’t get up every morning to destroy the environment, that’s not it.”

“Farmers are ready to make efforts, but when some cannot even make a living from their production, they obviously find that we are asking too much at times.”

Yann Wehrling, head of the Positive Ecology and Territories list

at franceinfo

Among the points of divergence, there is, for example, the relationship with the economic world but also the use of nuclear power. “Finally, when I look at what is said by certain environmentalists who are against nuclear power, it would amount to covering the country with wind turbines and photovoltaics,says Yann Werling. But what about biodiversity and landscapes?

The Ecologists-EELV “are stupidly and ineffectively radical”

But for the head of the Positive Ecology and Territories list, the main divide is on the political line. There is no question of him joining the Nupes. He regrets that the Ecologists have become too radical, too anchored to the left: “We are more in favor of working everyone, like the Grünen in Germany, continues Yann Wehrling. The German or Austrian Greens have been demonstrating for decades that where they have influence is in being able to discuss with both the left and the right.”

An opinion shared by Jean-Marc Governatori, former candidate in the environmentalist primary: “I observed that this obsessive leftism posed big problems with scores in regional and national matters. Consequently, I wanted ecology to become truly central.” Today, he is campaigning for Ecology at the center, pointing out, he says, the failings of environmentalists. “They are stupidly and ineffectively radical because at a given moment, when European air kills another 300 000 people, including 50 000 French people, that 90% of groundwater and surface water are not in very good ecological condition and that you list European problems, you wonder if an environmentalist party exists in France and in Europe ?”

When contacted, the MarieToussaint teams explained to us that a reconciliation with these lists is not envisaged. “We do not carry the same program, the same ecology”we are told.