French Communists want alternative to Mélenchon-driven left coalition

The French Communist Party is calling for a ‘new type of union’ between fellow left-wing parties in France, after radical left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI) found itself in hot water over its response to the recent Hamas attack on Israel.

“The seriousness of the international situation, as in France, calls on the left to live up to its responsibilities. Unfortunately, it has not”, the French Communist Party (PCF), which is also part of the left-wing alliance NUPES, said in a statement issued on Sunday.

The PCF, which met at its National Council, suggests ending NUPES, the alliance formed for the legislative elections in June 2022. It now brings together left-wing MPs in an “intergroup” in the National Assembly.

Today, the NUPES, “formed […] under the hegemonic will of [Mélenchon’s party] LFI, has become a dead end”, the communists said in their statement.

“The recent refusal to describe the atrocities committed by Hamas as terrorist acts” and “the insults of LFI leaders, comparing the PCF leadership to Nazi collaborationists” were among the reasons listed in the statement.

This “weakens the rallies needed for peace in the Middle East and the fight against the Israeli army’s war crimes”, the PCF National Council added.

The PCF’s position was adopted almost unanimously, with 36 votes in favour and only one against.

However, the Communists still want to “bring together the people, the world of work and the left” through “a rally that is useful and respects our differences”.

“It is time to open a new stage for the left with a new type of union”, he added.

The call is open to all left-wing parties, including all LFI politicians.

Doubts from the Socialists and the Greens

What appears most problematic in all this is LFI leader Mélenchon.

Last week, the Socialists announced their wish to take a temporary break from NUPES in response to Mélenchon’s and his party’s controversial stance regarding Hamas.

“It’s a fundamental break”, not a disagreement, Roussel declared on Friday, echoing a view shared by most left-wing MPs, especially socialists, interviewed by Euractiv last week.

While the Socialist Party has not yet withdrawn from NUPES, internal pressure is mounting on First Secretary Olivier Faure to make the break.

In an op-ed published in Le Point on Friday, former Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve – who left the PS because of the alliance with LFI – and 20 left-wing MPs write that “the alliance with LFI is, in this context, a political disgrace and a moral fault, the danger of which we have denounced from the outset”. Two of 31 Socialist MPs were among the op-ed signatories.

The Greens are also expressing some doubts.

“I don’t even know what to say about Jean-Luc Mélenchon anymore. I have the impression that he and his camp are engaged in a strategy of permanent conflict”, explained Marine Tondelier, the head of the Green party, on France Culture on Saturday.

According to her, Mélenchon’s positions are not even shared by all the members of his party. Alexis Corbière and François Ruffin, for instance, have publicly distanced themselves. So, a new left alliance could include them.

“The NUPES, which had been a source of hope for a lot of people, has somehow become a subject of despair, and that bothers me a lot”, admitted Tondelier. And she states, “the majority of us [on the left] want it to go well, whether it’s called NUPES or not”.

(Davide Basso | Euractiv.fr)