Yannick Jadot seems happy with himself. Quietly wedged in a train between Paris and Rouen, the green candidate for the Elysee Palace comments on his firmness in front of the Medef and the latest diplomatic developments in Ukraine. A collaborator passes a head: “apparently it’s hot over there in terms of the wind, they announce gusts of 80 km/h, they say that the scene can fly away”. And here is the uncertainty that rises on the Norman stage of the “Tour of the possible”, this tour of France of outdoor meetings supposed to minimize the risk of Covid contamination and bring the candidate closer to the French.
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When they come to town…
Barely set foot in Rouen, Jadot finds his welcome committee. As promised, it blows hard. But a priori nothing to cancel the meeting, assure the locals. “We looked at the weather forecast hour by hour, normally that should do it, blows Julie Godichaud, leader of a local campaign committee. In recent days, activists have worked hard to mobilize and make the candidate’s visit to Seine-Maritime a good time. At 50 days from the first round, the MEP is struggling to start a dynamic and the polls peak around 5%. “The French are not yet in the countryside and the four-day European polls gave us 6.5%”, explains Jadot playing serenity. In 2019, the ecologists finally won 13.48% of the vote. In the pedestrian streets, we don’t seem more worried than that. We came in large numbers to escort the champion.
A meeting finally without a stage
Short stop on the cathedral square. It is there, in front of the imposing building dating from the Middle Ages, that Jadot must hold his public meeting in a big hour. For the moment nothing is ready, we are still thinking regarding solutions to take into account the blowing wind. Decision: the meeting will take place but without a stage, at the height of men. Yannick Jadot, he meets in the warm, three trade unionists from the stationery of the Chapelle Darblay, in the suburbs of Rouen, who have just won their case following months of mobilization. The trio fought to find a buyer capable of sustaining their company’s environmentally-friendly model. regarding to win. «Bravo»let go of the green candidate who wants to make the box an example of the industrial policy he intends to pursue.
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On the square, a candidate in the wind.
6 p.m., the hour of the meeting has come. Nearly 200 people wait in the cold in front of the cathedral. The gusts are such that activists have to hold back the banners bearing the candidate’s image to prevent them from flying away. Émeline and Clément, both 25, made the trip despite the weather. “It’s the first time I’ve attended a political rally, it’s actually quite practical to do that in the street and to be able to walk past it at random”explains the first who calls herself left-wing but who does not yet know who she will vote for “so many candidates there are”. “That is precisely the objective of the tour of possibilities, to allow people who would not have come to a room to listen to us, slips the entourage of Jadot. Everyone knows how to hold meetings where activists come to wave flags, we want to occupy the street with the political debate in places where there is a lot of traffic..
A major contract with the agricultural world
And suddenly, faces the wind Yannick Jadot. The speakers spit out the song «What a wonderful world», Joey Ramone version. After a hug given to the farmer and former trade unionist François Dufour and a few microphone bugs, the green candidate starts: “Ecologists are not plains in which trees are cut to build factory farms. […] This cannot be French agriculture, we will come to power to change everything and to make a big contract with the agricultural world. chants the MEP. Following a perfect timing, the bells of the cathedral ring, enough to give a little sacred air to his remarks. “Alleluia”, whispers an activist.
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Yannick Jadot and François Dufour, former spokesperson for the Confédération paysanne.
Then comes the nuclear issue. “Normandy is a land of combat because unfortunately in the collective imagination it is a land of welcome for nuclear powersqueaks Jadot. Nuclear power plants are big pressure cookers. If they fart, an entire region is devastated.”. The MEP then launches into a plea for renewable energies and takes advantage of the weather to promote wind turbines: “We don’t miss the wind in Normandy, there’s enough to keep the whole of France going”. Jadot necessarily scratches Emmanuel Macron who, last week announced a “French nuclear renaissance” and the launch of six new EPRs. “He will remain the president who has been condemned twice by French justice for climate inaction” hammers the green candidate. The applause of the activists is fed. The few curious ones have already left. “It’s too cold, we’ll go see his program on social networks”, slips a couple of students while making the trunk, hair in the wind.
