Former environmentalist candidates in the presidential elections and MEPs join the EELV list for European women. The maneuver should revive the dynamic of Marie Toussaint, but will it succeed?
New names are joining the list of the Green party in the European elections and they are not just any names. If it is normal for Europe-Ecologie-Les Verts to complete the 81 names on its list before the deadline of May 17, these recent additions also seem to be part of a strategy supposed to breathe life into the head of the list, Marie Toussaint. The MEP propelled into the lead of the list is struggling to establish herself in the poll results, oscillating between 5.5% and 8% according to the latest studies. For the moment, no study sees it reaching the 13% obtained by Yannick Jadot five years ago.
But far from EELV the idea of blaming the leading candidate only: “We win together, we lose together” assured the national secretary of the party on Public Senate this Thursday, April 11. The game is played as a team among the ecologists and it is therefore logical that former political heavyweights lend a hand to Marie Toussaint by joining her list: Yannick Jadot, Eva Joly and Noël Mamère are now among the running mates. All three, however, appear in non-eligible places which will not allow them to sit in the European Parliament. But then what’s the point? That of taking advantage of the notoriety of the three environmentalists and the enthusiasm that this can generate among voters.
The support of Yannick Jadot who was MEP from 2009 and 2023 is not negligible for the European elections, especially since if the politician no longer sits in Brussels it is because he swapped the European Parliament for the Senate . Eva Joly is also a former European deputy who served from 2009 to 2019. Both of these environmental activists also wore the colors of their party during presidential elections: in 2017 and 2022 for Yannick Jadot and in 2012 for Eva Joly.
For his part, Noël Mamère was an MEP for three years between 1994 and 1997, but preferred the French National Assembly in which he sat until 2017 under various labels, including that of the ecologists. If the activist left the EELV party in 2013, he supported this list during the last European elections and is clearly renewing his support in 2024.
The fact remains that this arrival of reinforcement does not guarantee Marie Toussaint a rise in the polls. It could change nothing in the institutes’ predictions or even, even if it seems unlikely, do the candidate a disservice by giving the impression of an environmentalist party with ideas several years old. But given the figures and two months before the election, it is a move that is worth trying.
And even if that doesn’t change the situation, the three environmentalists who volunteered to join the list have nothing to lose. Eva Joly, aged 80, does not seem to have any political ambition even if her commitment is still relevant. Already in 2019, she was in penultimate place on the environmentalist list for Europeans. Same thing for Noël Mamère whose last political mandates date back to 2017 as deputy and mayor of Bègles, in Gironde.
Only Yannick Jadot is still active in the political sphere, but for him too the final score obtained by Marie Toussaint’s list will only have limited effects on his own career as he is not the figurehead of the campaign. On the contrary, this non-eligible candidacy allows him to take part in the campaign, regain visibility and continue his path with a view to a possible new and third presidential candidacy in 2027? Who knows…