Union, but what union? With the exception of Arnaud Montebourg, Anne Hidalgo’s proposal to bring together the various left-wing candidates behind a single name with a view to the presidential election does not convince the main stakeholders. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Fabien Roussel and Yannick Jadot, opposed to any primary, intend to continue defending their ideas until April 2022, by accepting their differences.
Are the plans of these five left-wing contenders so incompatible? While waiting for a possible entry on the track of Christiane Taubira (who declared Friday, December 17 to consider running for the presidential election in mid-January), franceinfo has auscultated the proposals of the candidates already declared. If some subjects are rather consensus, such as the proposal for a climate ISF or the increase in the minimum wage, the ideas presented and detailed so far are far from all similar. The relationship with Europe and social democracy continue to fracture the left, which is also divided on the issue of secularism.
The subjects that bring them together
• An increase in the minimum wage
This is a common point of all the left contenders at the Elysee Palace, put forward by Anne Hidalgo when she proposed a televised debate to the other candidates. Each has promised, if elected, to increase the minimum wage, now set at 1,258 euros net monthly before an increase of 0.9% expected in January, according to INSEE. Here, everything is a story of gradation: an increase of 15% from the start of the mandate for Anne Hidalgo (to reach around 1,400 euros), a direct passage to 1,400 euros for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, an immediate increase of 10% (approximately 1,383 euros) to the program ofArnaud Montebourg, when Yannick Jadot wants the same growth, but rather over the five-year term. Fabien Roussel which will detail all of its proposals in January, proposes for its part to increase the gross monthly minimum wage to 1,800 euros gross, i.e. “1,500 euros net”.
• The creation of a form of “climate ISF”
The idea was launched by Greenpeace in October 2020: to establish a “climate ISF”, a way of reviving the solidarity tax on wealth, transformed by Emmanuel Macron into a tax on real estate wealth (IFI). The NGO’s measure was taken up by Yannick Jadot and Anne Hidalgo in view of the presidential election, with weak nuances.
The ecologist wants to restore this tax for households whose fortune exceeds 1.3 million euros and penalize the most polluting of these taxpayers, in order to finance more virtuous public investments in environmental matters. For the socialist, it is a question of re-establishing the old ISF with “maybe other perimeters” than the threshold of 1.3 million euros. With the money collected, she would like to feed “a support fund for ecological transition, especially for the poorest”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part, promises to “restore and strengthen the ISF, including a climate component aimed at taxing large polluters”, which is similar to the proposal of its competitors.
• Additional resources for hospitals
After two years of health crisis, the question of the public hospital often comes up in the mouths of the various candidates. How to put back on its feet a system that they all consider deteriorated and insufficiently supported since the appearance of Covid-19? Anne Hidalgo, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Fabien Roussel thus promise to tackle the 5,700 bed closures operated in 2020. All the candidates also plead for more resources and recruitments, with in particular the training of 100,000 caregivers, for the candidate of France rebellious. Finally, the pricing of fee-for-service medical acts is in the crosshairs of the main contenders on the left.
• An opposition (more or less) firm to Emmanuel Macron
All united… against Emmanuel Macron. Where the Socialist Party was divided on the line to hold five years ago, Anne Hidalgo clarified the position of his camp: “He continues to be extremely hard on the most modest, the most fragile”, she said of the President of the Republic. On their side, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Arnaud Montebourg, Yannick Jadot and Fabien Roussel constantly criticize the head of state’s record and his way of governing the country, with more or less virulence.
Points for which there is no consensus
• The abandonment of nuclear power
Omnipresent or non-existent? Nuclear power is one of the points of friction on the left. Its place is central in the eyes of Fabien Roussel, in an energy mix made up of renewable energies and atoms. For a long time alone, the Communist was offered on Sunday December 12 a draft referendum on this question by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, which nevertheless had the ambition to exit nuclear power before 2045. Either more or less the deadline set by Yannick Jadot in its program. Anne Hidalgo, she wants to abandon this mode of electricity production “as quickly as possible”, but not before the renewable has been able to replace the existing reactors.
• The retirement age
All the candidates are opposed to the pension reform as planned by the government before the Covid-19 crisis. For 2022, the nuances on the left are quite clear, but not insurmountable. Jean-Luc Mélenchon advocates the return of the legal retirement age to 60 years for 40 years of contribution, against 37.5 years of contribution for Fabien Roussel. Anne Hidalgo does not want to raise the legal age of departure beyond 62, which is also proposed by Yannick Jadot and Arnaud Montebourg.
• Security
On security issues, placed at the center of the debates by the right and the far right, the left candidates are not always on the same wavelength. Jean-Luc Mélenchon had denounced the character “factious” of the big police demonstration organized in May. He proposes to “overhaul police activities to guarantee the right to security” citizens, while dismantling the anti-crime squads and repealing the “ineffective security laws”. The Communists do not have this vision of the police: “It is inadmissible to attack the police”, valued Fabien Roussel, who had just participated in this demonstration, as Yannick Jadot and Olivier Faure, the boss of the PS. The PCF candidate sees security as a “fundamental right” and advocates “a policy of firm sanction and repression” against those who attack “holders of public authority”.
• The legalization of cannabis
In case of accession of one of its representatives to the Elysee, will the left implement the legalization of cannabis? In any case, this is what would do Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot. The PS ofAnne Hidalgo has not yet taken a position but wants a debate on the subject, while Fabien Roussel and Arnaud Montebourg are not in favor.
The main lines of fracture
• The form of the State
Jacobin or decentralized state? The role of the state in the economy, society and the lives of citizens has long divided the left and continues to divide it. In 2022, “the strategic state” will be responsible for planning the “ecological bifurcation” and the “mobilization in all sectors of society”, according to the program Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Yannick Jadot considers for its part that it is necessary “relaunching a major decentralization process”, with a State which “trusts the forces as well as the territories”.
• Different visions of secularism
In phase on many points, France rebellious and the Communist Party stand out from each other on secularism. Showing his firmness and defending a “Secular republic” for 2022, Fabien Roussel denounces the positions of LFI, which it considers ambiguous, on “the neutrality of public service agents” Where “the protection of teachers” against religious fundamentalism. Faced with these criticisms, Jean-Luc Mélenchon promises to “fight all communitarianisms and the political use of religions” in case of election. Yes Yannick Jadot consider that “the law on secularism is a jewel of the Republic”, Anne Hidalgo criticized EELV at the end of November for having “a problem of relationship to the Republic”.
• Europe
The relationship with the European Union, led by France in the first half of 2022, is one of the main stumbling blocks between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot. The first advocates “the concerted break with the current treaties” and castigates the candidacy “pro-European” the second, whose party defends a European federalism. Anne Hidalgo, she denounces austerity while defending a Europe “strong”. Motor of the European Union and now led by the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, Germany is very criticized by rebels, while EELV wants “the creation of a Franco-German action union for ecological, social and democratic transitions”. On the economy, Yannick Jadot wants protectionism at the borders of the European Union with a “Buy European Act”, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Fabien Roussel and Arnaud Montebourg defend national sovereignty.