We now know the list of candidates for the legislative elections (June 12 and 19). In Côte d’Or, they are ten to seek the post of deputy in the 4th district. Among them, Patrick Molinoz, the PRG mayor of Venarey-les-Laumes and also regional councilor of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
France Bleu Bourgogne: What is your reaction to the aggression denounced by the candidate Reconquête in the 1st district of the Côtes d’Or?
I completely condemn these actions. No violence is justifiable in politics, as in life for that matter. We need a peaceful society. Violence against women is even worse. This must be condemned. Now, unfortunately, a number of candidates and parties are playing on extremely tough opposition and somehow fueling violence. But nothing justifies the aggression of an elected representative of the Republic or of a candidate, as of a citizen. It is not in this society that we must learn to live together.
Regarding the legislative elections, your party, the Radical Left Party (PRG) refused to join the Nupes alliance. What do you complain about this agreement?
Immediately, we discussed with them, with Jean-Luc Mélenchon whom we know well and moreover it is not in question in a personal capacity, but this alliance, it is the carp and the rabbit. It’s an alliance of dupes. It’s only a little hack to try to save a few seats here and there. What made us refuse this alliance is that we do not believe that we should sit down on values to recover a few seats. Between the far left and Emmanuel Macron, who forgot his left leg, there is room for a republican, secular and European left, a responsible left, a left of responsibility that does not shave for free as the far left does. . So we preferred to go there under our colors rather than making absolutely untenable promises.
You don’t believe in the rally of the left?
I believe in a gathering of the left, but on the basis of things that we will actually do together. You will see that as soon as the elections were over, the differences, the deep disagreements between the Greens who sold themselves to LFIs, the official socialist party – because in the Côte d’Or it does not follow this line – which went sell to LFI, the objections will reappear immediately. And so we will have sold voters an alliance that will explode the day after the elections. This is not serious.
Are you taking the risk that the left will not pass at all in the second round of the legislative elections in the 4th district, as in 2017?
I don’t want to see a majority arrive in the National Assembly that will bring Europe down. In this constituency, we need the European Union, the CAP (common agricultural policy, editor’s note), aid to farmers, development aid which is given by the funds managed by the region to the territories. Wanting to get out of Europe, supporting a party which, a few weeks ago, told us that Mr Putin was a respectable person, who supports States in the world which take a few liberties with democracy, which call into question the secularism… I never want to be seated next to Mrs. Obono. This vision of society and the opposition of men against men is not a vision of society that corresponds to us. We want a peaceful society, we want a responsible society, we want to build in compromise. This is the DNA of the Radical Left Party. You can’t do that with the extremes, it’s not possible.
The reality locally is that the 4th ranked constituency on the right. Voters placed Marine Le Pen in the lead in the second round with 52% of the vote. Are you therefore taking the risk that this constituency will shift to the far right?
But not at all. I think that voters who do not identify with either the far left or Emmanuel Macron who, I repeat, forgot his left leg, will be orphans if we do not go there, in alliance with the Socialist Party of Côte d’ ‘Gold. These voters there will go towards abstention. Personally, I think we have to go and motivate them because there is room in this country for a once again responsible left that the PRG embodies. We cannot be satisfied with the fact that the presidential election seems to show that tomorrow there will only be Emmanuel Macron and the extremes, extreme right on one side, extreme left on the other. We believe there is another way.
In this constituency which is very rural, the inhabitants often have the impression of being forgotten by the politicians. What do you answer them as a local elected official?
It is true and it is false. Me, I want to defend a rurality that believes in its chances. However, it’s true, the first issue in our rural areas is health. The public hospital is suffering. The installation of liberal health professionals in city medicine is an extreme difficulty. I have been advocating and defending for years the obligation of installation for doctors who leave their studies. Their studies were paid for with public money, I think they need three years of their lives to settle in rural areas, which are also extremely welcoming. It is vital, if we do not have healthcare services in our territories, we will soon have no more inhabitants.