Fabien Roussel was re-elected national secretary of the French Communist Party on Monday. He calls for the construction of a “new Popular Front” on the left.
He keeps the reins of the Communist Party. Unsurprisingly, Fabien Roussel was largely renewed on Monday April 10 as national secretary of the PCF at the 39th party congress in Marseille, with 80.4% of the vote. This congress allowed the deputy from the North, and former presidential candidate, to confirm his desire to free himself from Nupes. A winning bet.
>> Rivalry Roussel-Mélenchon, future of Nupes, alliances on the left… Why is the gap widening between communists and “rebellious”?
Fabien Roussel has been playing this card from the start: independence in Nupes, and especially with respect to La France insoumise. He wants to get away from it, while remaining in the union of the left. And he offers to “build a new Popular Front to build together a free, strong and happy France”. “We did it each time with respect for everyone, without hegemony from anyone, said the re-elected national secretary. This is what we are calling for. We call for going further than the union built in the aftermath of the presidential election. This ambivalent position has been rewarded and allows him to maintain the support of members despite some internal criticism of his behavior as an agitator and the lack of results after his failure in the presidential election with 2.3% of the vote, a score below hopes raised by his candidacy.
“It’s not about throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but still, you have to change the water from time to time!”
Fabien Rousselat the PCF congress, in Marseilles
This PCF congress triggered an open war between Fabien Roussel and LFI. In the space of a week, the communist cut the last thread that still held him to the “rebellious”. He qualified, in The Expressthe Nupes of “outdated” and reached out to the former pillar of the Socialist Party, Bernard Cazeneuve, inveterate detractor of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, causing a clash with Manuel Bompard, the number 1 of LFI. “We have a political disagreement, obviously, blows Manuel Bompard, still annoyed Monday on franceinfo. When Fabien Roussel says that the Nupes is outdated, these are words that I do not share. He needs to make his intentions clear.” Until then, everything was done behind the scenes, but now it’s the big unpacking. Fabien Roussel has never assumed the Nupes, the logo did not even appear on his campaign leaflets for the legislative elections, but he cultivates a form of ambiguity since it was he who was at the initiative of the joint meetings of the left in the midst of a battle against pension reform.
One foot out, one toe still in the Nupes
Initially, Fabien Roussel will offer his Nupes partners (La France insoumise, the Socialist Party, Europe Ecology – The Greens) a working meeting. Then it’s hard to know. The Nupes looks a bit like a roller coaster from the start: once weakened, once revitalised. With this last congress, on the left, two lines are now well established. On the one hand, the communist Fabien Roussel and the ecologist Marine Tondelier have a big foot outside and a toe still in the Nupes. On the other, La France insoumise and the Socialist Party are still firmly attached to the coalition. The rest will take shape with the next elections, in particular European ones, which constitute the next test of the Nupes. The smaller ones will try by then to rebalance the balance of power and LFI to keep its hegemony.