Raphaël Glucksmann, a candidate who struggles to reconcile the left with the working classes

He is officially head of the joint list of the PS and Place Publique for the European elections next June. But if his candidacy is very media-oriented, there is no “Glucksman effect” and some criticize him for being “disconnected”.

Raphaël Glucksmann was officially designated, Saturday February 24, as head of the list of the Socialist Party and Place Publique for the European elections, as he did five years ago and this is not a surprise. Raphaël Glucksmann had no competitor, the socialists were not jostling to challenge him for first place. Incidentally, his small Place Publique movement is very well served on the list with three so-called eligible places.

With his record as an outgoing MEP, Raphaël Glucksmann therefore stood out and he has great ambitions for this election. He aims for leadership on the left and third place on the final podium, behind the National Rally (RN) and Renaissance. But the choice of this head of the list also illustrates the difficulties of the left.

Firstly because Raphaël Glucksmann’s good media rating clashes with the political fragility of his situation. Despite a certain preferential treatment from a good part of the press, there is no real “Gluckmann effect”. Today he is estimated at 7 or 8% voting intentions in the polls, barely more than the 6.19% he collected in 2019, and far, very far from the RN-Renaissance tandem.

The candidate of the cities at the Agricultural Show

His profile as an intellectual, committed to human rights, appeals to an overeducated urban electorate, but it also further confirms the left’s divide with the working classes. A reproach inflicted on him in January by the Insoumis deputy of the Somme François Ruffin, accusing him in an open letter of being “Aboveground”, “disconnected” and representative of a “arrogant elite”. And within the PS itself, several voices have deplored the lack of diversity and the absence of workers on the list it leads.

The candidate seeks to correct this image. Raphaël Glucksmann, the urban candidate, went, for example, on Sunday February 25 to the fields, in this case to the Agricultural Show. But this obligatory passage also highlights the difficulties he encounters. Raphaël Glucksmann is a fervent pro-European, a watchdog who has been warning about the danger of Vladimir Putin for many years, an unfailing supporter of the Ukrainian resistance. However, this weekend again, it was peasant anger which dominated the political debate. The second anniversary of the start of Russian aggression in Ukraine has aroused only lukewarm indifference in public opinion and in the political world. However, it is a much more important issue for the very future of the European continent.