The Socialist Party has decided on a “moratorium” on its participation in joint work. If some deputies want to relaunch a union of the left and environmentalists, all, or almost all, agree that the Nupes has lived.
It is the death of Nupes as we know it, that which revolves around La France insoumise, and therefore around Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who holds the line at a distance, but with an iron fist. Tuesday October 17, the Socialist Party voted for a “moratorium” on its participation in Nupes, following the refusal of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and several LFI figures to qualify Hamas as a “terrorist” organization, after the bloody attack on Israel. Earlier, the rebellious leader had responded on X (formerly Twitter) to Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS, who believed that Jean-Luc Mélenchon could no longer “to be the one who embodies the left and ecology” : “Olivier Faure breaks the Nupes”.
>> How the war between Israel and Hamas exacerbates divisions within La France insoumise
This Nupes, born in June 2022 for the legislative elections, ultimately only existed in the Assembly. With this suspension of joint work, no one pretends anymore and at the Palais-Bourbon, everyone confirms the time of death. “It’s like in a relationship, when you take a ‘break’, when you take a break, it’s over”summarizes a deputy.
At the same time, Nupes supporters are preparing a recovery plan, of sorts, to create another union of the left, without the rebellious leader and his clan. The “unionists” are active behind the scenes, but no one yet knows where to go. We talk, we meet up, one day at someone’s house, one day in a café, or even in the stands of the Stade de France, where the boss of the Greens Marine Tondelier, the socialist Olivier Faure, the rebellious François Ruffin, Sunday, during the XV of France match.
Do something with “the good guys team”
“We have to do something with the good guys team”, smiles a Nupes deputy. According to information from franceinfo, this “team” was in the process of signing a platform to denounce Hamas with one voice, but the project fell through.
Environmentalist senator Yannick Jadot believes that Nupes is dead, but that an alliance on the left can live. He compares Jean-Luc Mélenchon to a “Stalinist”: “He led the internal purge and now he is doing the external purge to prepare for 2027.” However, some offer a way out. Cyrielle Chatelain, the president of the environmental group in the National Assembly, makes the same observation as many of her colleagues: Nupes is in crisis, it is no longer moving forward. “Summarizing everything to one man and his positions is not up to the momentshe said in reference to Jean-Luc Mélenchon. We were able to make a breakthrough in programmatic terms, on important subjects. But today we have not made a break in political practices“, says the president.
#NUPES 🟣 We, environmentalists, are convinced that unity is essential.
We call on all left-wing and environmentalist deputies to come together. https://t.co/Qh1IHxUFRQ pic.twitter.com/utzXEXHks6
— Cyrielle Chatelain (@Cyrielle_Chtl) October 18, 2023
The environmentalists want to give power back to the 151 deputies of the Nupes and put everything back together during a large general assembly, explains deputy Benjamin Lucas. “We call for a demanding, serious and sincere discussion, and not through tweets. Maybe we could put a moratorium on soundbites and invectives!“, exclaims the elected official.
The invitation is in any case launched and seems to find a favorable response among certain rebels crossed in the National Assembly. MP Raquel Garrido agrees 100%: “Anything that degrades us, divides us or weakens us is unbearable for the electorate, for the activists. I think we have to do better and I ask everyone to do their part, so as not to prevent us from doing so.”
“Rebellious” who defend “the original line”
An indirect appeal to Jean-Luc Mélenchon: more and more deputies, including rebellious ones, today agree that we must free ourselves from the former candidate for the presidential election. And within LFI, we are also active, especially since Danièle Obono’s slip-up on Tuesday. The rebellious MP described Hamas as “Islamist political group” Who “resists occupation” For “the liberation of Palestine”. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin then took legal action for “apology of terrorism”. Danièle Obono’s comments were denounced by a large number of her LFI colleagues, sometimes by the most cautious of the group, those who do not usually take a position. An MP says he wants to try to turn them against their leadership: “I have to go hang out in the corridors, deal with them one by one”.
The rebellious “rebels” want to resist from within to defend “the original party line”. There is no question of leaving LFI and launching against all odds. “If we screw up and all that goes into the backgroundexplains one of them, that there is no prospect of union on the left, you can start writing the biography of Marine Le Pen, president in 2027.”