The frank and consensual profile of EELV national secretary Marine Tondelier appeals to the left. To the point of seeing her cross the doors of Matignon and take on the role of Prime Minister?
Her green jacket has become the most famous in the French political landscape, but not only. Marine Tondelier has also become one of the faces of the campaign for the legislative elections and in particular during the period between the two rounds. The national secretary of Europe-Écologie-Les Verts (EELV) now appears as a real headliner for the New Popular Front, the union of the left victorious in the legislative elections ahead of the presidential majority and the National Rally. Since the results of the first round, she has been one of the main voices who had spoken out in favor of creating a republican front in the face of the risk of an absolute majority for the RN.
“Without a political surge, without drastically changing the policies that are being implemented (…) it will be useless to come and seek my help” in the 2027 presidential election “to call for a republican front” she warned on Monday July 8 in The Event on France 2. A way for the northerner to assert herself while the left is struggling to agree to bring out the idea of a consensual Prime Minister and make the proposal to Emmanuel Macron in the days to come.
National Secretary of EELV and Regional Councilor of Hauts-de-France
Born in 1986 in Bois-Bernard in Pas-de-Calais, Marine Tondelier grew up in Hénin-Beaumont (now Marine Le Pen’s stronghold). Daughter of a doctor father and a dentist mother, a graduate of the IEP in Lille and holder of a Master’s degree in healthcare facility management, she began her political career in 2009 by joining the Europe-Ecologie-Les Verts party. In 2012, she was a candidate in the 11th constituency of Pas-de-Calais in the legislative elections, she obtained 1.63% of the vote. During the 2015 departmental elections, she received 6.50% of the vote in the canton of Hénin-Beaumont with Thierry Deneuville. It was in 2019 that her political career took a turn. She was a candidate in 74th position on the EELV list for the European elections. A list led by Yannick Jadot who will manage to send 13 deputies to the European Parliament.
Within EELV, she will climb the ranks, until becoming the parliamentary collaborator of Cécile Duflot, MP and former Minister of Housing from 2015 to 2017. Municipal councilor of Hénin-Beaumont since 2014, Marine Tondelier became regional councilor of Hauts-de-France in 2021. She was then chosen by Yannick Jadot as spokesperson for his campaign for the 2022 presidential election. The same year, she was elected national secretary at the head of the executive office of EELV. With Olivier Faure, Manuel Bompard and Fabien Roussel, she is one of the main initiators of the New Popular Front, winner of the early legislative elections of 2024.
“On the front line”, Marine Tondelier says she is “ready to govern”
On the evening of the dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron, Marine Tondelier immediately called for “the broadest possible gathering of progressive forces. After four days of negotiations, the New Popular Front was born for the first round of early legislative elections. Enterprising and determined, Marine Tondelier left her mark on the start of the campaign. “It is in Marine Tondelier’s identity to be on the front line against the extreme right,” declared the socialist senator for Oise Alexandre Ouizille to theAFP.
And this quest for consensus, resourcefulness and mutual aid, Marine Tondelier has made it one of her main arguments. “We will surely have to do things that no one has ever done before in this country” she estimated at the microphone of TF1 this Tuesday. “But what is certain is that it must be done on clear political bases: the question is rather, for what purpose? Than with whom?”. From then on, several names are mentioned to take the head of a new left-wing government, including many rebels, but the other parties such as the PS, the Ecologists or the PCF reject the idea of a head of government from LFI and demand that the designated person achieve “consensus”, another positive point for the ecologist Marine Tondelier.
The woman who is also a regional councillor for Hauts-de-France did not hesitate to clearly formulate her ambitions. In Releaselast Wednesday, she said she was “ready to govern”. A position that places the EELV boss as a serious candidate for the post of Prime Minister. “She ran an excellent campaign. She is even THE figure of the second round. She is also consensual on the left. She is an environmentalist, a value that is very shared today. She can therefore unite around that. She is not divisive, on the contrary” declared Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, specialist in consulting and communication in The mountain.
Marine Tondelier’s message to Emmanuel Macron
Sunday July 7, The gallery revealed a conversation between the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and Marine Tondelierr at around 6:30 p.m., when the first exit polls had just been released: “Your responsibilities are immense. You must take clear measures to withdraw your candidates who came in third place in the event of an RN risk,” the environmentalist wrote to him. “I will be up to the task. I know what role you play in the fight against the RN,” the head of state replied, referring to her position as municipal councilor in the town of Hénin-Beaumont, where Marine Le Pen has been elected as a member of parliament since 2017.
The media reveals that Emmanuel Macron and Marine Tondelier had spoken again, a few days earlier, concerning a constituency in which a candidate from the former presidential majority refused to withdraw in favor of the NFP. “I’ll take care of it” the president reportedly told him. The Macronist candidate would withdraw a few hours later. Proof of Marine Tondelier’s brand new political stature at the national level. The night after the result of the second round of the legislative elections, Gabriel Attal and Stéphane Séjourné also wanted to speak with the head of the Greens, as they were able to do with Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the PS.
These direct and frank exchanges with the Head of State allow us to note the relative position of strength in which Marine Tondelier finds herself or at least, a certain consideration of political decision-makers towards her. All the more so, in view of the latest statements of the former spokesperson for Yannick Jadot’s presidential campaign. “There will be no Macronist Prime Minister for example. The coalition will be built around a Republican bloc that comes out on top, that is to say very probably the New Popular Front” she affirmed in the columns of Libération. The latter did not spare the presidential camp after the NFP victory, deploring its lack of courtesy: “We cannot lose and say that we have won at the same time (…) Institutional logic would have dictated that he pick up his phone and call the NFP party leaders to ask them for the name of a prime minister…” she castigated about Gérald Darmanin, after the latter explained on Monday that “no one has won” these elections. Another point of discord between Together and Marine Tondelier, “she belongs to the New Popular Front, so it would be a difficult nomination to accept on the right” says Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, quite simply. Enough to call into question a possible nomination to Matignon? Answer in the coming days, or even weeks.