The leader of the ecologists is betting on a program clearly anchored on the left a few weeks before the presidential election, notes the European press. A way of presenting itself as a unifier, at a time when the situation is still as inextricable for this side of the political spectrum.
Establish a citizen’s income for those over 18, increase the minimum wage to 1,500 euros net per month (an increase of around 250 euros), hire 200,000 additional civil servants until 2027 and, above all, the return of the wealth tax… The presidential program presented in Lyon on January 29 leaves no doubt regarding the political orientation of the European Ecology-The Greens campaign: “Yannick Jadot puts French ecology on the left completely”, headlines the Swiss newspaper The weather.
The Geneva daily particularly retains this last proposal for“climate tax” on the fortune that the person concerned, “reputed until then rather centrist”, launched five years following the repeal of theISF by Emanuel Macron. “This political positioning of Yannick Jadot risks alienating him from central voters, who had largely contributed, in 2019, to the very good score of his environmentalist list in the European elections”, estimates the daily. Likewise, it confirms the gap that exists between the French Greens and the German Grünen, today in power within a coalition in Berlin.
The left wing remains present
On the other hand, this position is largely explained by “the concern of the French Greens at the risk of a scattering of votes in this political camp divided between the candidacies of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Anne Hidalgo, Fabien Roussel and Christiane Taubira”. Yannick Jadot came out second in the popular primary, the legitimacy of which he however did not recognize. The influence of the left wing of the Greens, with its figurehead, Sandrine Rousseau, remains significant. Moreover, writes the newspaper, we must not forget that in 2017 Jadot had withdrawn in favor of the candidate of the PS, Benoît Hamon, who had also defended a universal income.
Will the strategy pay off for a candidate credited today with around 5% in the polls? In any case, this is not the only signal emitted by Yannick Jadot to make the press react.
“Faced with the electoral disaster that is looming for the parties of the French left, the presidential candidate of the Greens has decided to give up his lifelong principles and wear a tie”, have fun Times. The conservative London daily returns to the appearance on TF1 of the green candidate, dressed in navy blue and wearing a tie to look more “presidential”. “Jadot has been criticized for giving in to conventions when everyone now avoids the tie, outside of politics.” The title points out that, on the side of La France insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon regularly appears with a tie “certainly, revolutionary red”. To conclude :
Anyway, with 10% of the voting intentions, it is unlikely that the leader of La France insoumise will survive the first round.
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