My kingdom for chestnuts… Among the Socialists, the peace signed in Marseille is already a distant memory. The war that undermines the old pink house is not over. A new spasm of this affair has animated the first district of Ariège for the past two weeks. This old land of the left, socialist continuously since 1958 before falling into the hands of rebellious France in 2017, saw the two lefts face each other during a partial legislative.
A fratricidal duel? No, a clash between two visions of the left, between Bénédicte Taurine, outgoing LFI deputy, labeled Nupes and supported by Olivier Faure and the party leadership as part of the agreement with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the other parties of the covenant; and Martine Froger, a dissident socialist, supported by Faure’s internal opponents, including her nemesis from Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, but also Anne Hidalgo, Carole Delga, François Hollande and Bernard Cazeneuve. And it is the latter which largely beat the rebellious Sunday, April 2 (60.19% against 39.81% of the ballots).
A defeat of the Nupes? Of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his rebels? No doubt, but it happens that the defeats of some are the discomfiture of others. This partial in Ariège particularly weighed down Olivier Faure. Jean-Luc Mélenchon held him as a trusted ally, believing that the congress, even undermined by a few base works, had cut the line and strengthened the outgoing First Secretary. The latter, himself, thought to step over this local ballot, convinced that the dissonant voices calling to betray the Nupes agreement and support the dissident even within the party leadership would go unnoticed. Missed. “What is the use of a political ally if he is unable to ensure clarity in his political formation?”, plagues an LFI executive who wonders whether the little socialist merry-go-round will continue to disrupt the agreement on the left.
“A party leader shouldn’t say that”
For weeks, Faure let his internal opponents not only torpedo Nupes but support the dissident at all costs. “In Marseille, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol had made a commitment to respect the Nupes agreement in Ariège, in front of me and many witnesses. I see that he does not respect his word”, lamented, a week before the ballot, the boss of the PS. Naivety? Some would say that Mayer-Rossignol has some false airs of Aurélien Pradié, at LR. “He is not my Pradié. Pradié is politically finer, unchecks Olivier Faure. In one direction, we must be consistent, not competitive. If everyone does their little business, despite agreements with partners, what will the word be worth? socialist?” And the socialist leader to pose an ultimatum: “If Nicolas does not want to assume the direction, that he takes his responsibilities.”
“A party leader should not say that, ironically one of his critics. If we want to cut heads, we do it, we don’t say it.” Right in his boots, Faure is content to wear a falsely disinterested ear to the maneuvers of the dissidents. He may hammer the importance of respecting the Nupes agreement, his word is not performative within the socialist apparatus. Has she been since her disputed re-election at the head of the party? But his followers are beginning to get annoyed at the leader’s apathy. Too late ? “It was in June 2022 (Editor’s note: after the legislative elections) that all these dissidents had to be kicked out. They will never stop making little moves”, laments a henchman of Olivier Faure.
national lesson
With the Couac de l’Ariège, the worm is a little more in the fruit. Will Olivier Faure learn the lessons, in particular the one that his critics have been repeating for months: we must raise our voices in the face of the rebellious and renegotiate the agreement? “Behind this partial hides a national education for the left and Olivier must take the measure”, estimates Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. Arriving in the lead in the first round with 31.18% of the votes, Bénédicte Taurine has lost ground since the legislative elections of June 2022; ground and above all 3,600 votes, almost as many as the Renaissance candidate (3,900 lost votes), victim of the pension reform which cost Emmanuel Macron’s flock a lot. “Last January, Jean-Luc Mélenchon explained that the victory of his candidate (Editor’s note: René Pilato) was a victory against the pension reform, explains the number 2 of the PS. The context is changing on the left and the voters understand that the hitch behind the rebellious is not the right one.”
The operation is all the worse for Olivier Faure as he finds himself again and again ankylosed by internal opponents who are growing in power. He who thought he had gotten rid of François Hollande then Anne Hidalgo, must now deal with Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol but above all Carole Delga, baroness of Occitania with assumed ambition. She decided not to leave any leeway to the First Secretary.
Delga, the anti-Faure
Delga plays on all the tables, as long as these weaken Olivier Faure. She made Faure believe that she would support him at the congress, before rallying to Mayer-Rossignol’s motion and even sending some of his soldiers to the front. Bernard Cazeneuve launches an anti-Nupes movement? She signs, while making it known via her entourage that she hardly believes in the operation of the former Prime Minister. She was even supposed to be at a dinner table for former left-wing elephants not long ago, before canceling at the last minute. She exchanges with Yannick Jadot or Fabien Roussel. François Ruffin is popular? Here is Carole Delga who offers him an interview on the sidelines of her events “the States General of the left”. He will decline the invitation. Too bad.
Carole Delga wants the skin of Olivier Faure. That’s good, he wants his own. Both believe in their lucky stars, say to themselves that Mélenchon’s hours are numbered, that the mechanics on the left will once again become socialist and that sooner or later it will be necessary to recover the fallen flag. Ariege? A battle, nothing more. A few weeks ago, a lieutenant of the First Secretary suggested that Delga, any regional president that she is, should pay attention to sidesteps. Exclusion awaits her. “We do not forbid ourselves anything. It is not up to us to say what sanctions and when. The texts are quite clear: if a socialist transgresses them, then he is sanctioned, whether his name is Carole Delga, Michaël Delafosse or Jean-Michel Duchmoll. It’s legal, not political.” Save me from my socialist friends, I’ll take care of my enemies!