Laurence Tubiana has announced that she is giving up her candidacy for the post of Prime Minister. The economist particularly regrets the “opposition within the NFP” concerning her profile, which is considered too “Macron compatible”.
Yet supported by the Socialist Party, the French Communist Party and the Ecologists,Laurence Tubiana announced this Monday, July 22, that she would give up her position as Prime Minister if the NFP were to designate her as the representative of the left-wing alliance with Emmanuel Macron. “I note that my name has encountered opposition within the NFP. All of this no longer seems to me to lead to the appeasement that we so badly need,” she wrote in a letter published on X. “I am returning to the battles that have always been mine. The social emergency and the climate emergency, one does not go without the other. I am convinced of the key role of civil society, social movements, and associations that fight tirelessly on the ground against inequalities, discrimination, and the climate crisis,” she added.
In a recent interview with Agence France Presse, she spoke about her ambitions for Matignon: “I’m not asking for anything, but it’s time for commitment and that suits me (…) when there is a political crisis, we have to respond. There is a need for a person from the left, if it has to be me, I will do it,” the 73-year-old woman said. “The far right is on the verge of power. Let’s rise to the occasion to respond to the concerns of French women and men (…) I remain convinced that the left has the duty and the capacity to exercise the responsibilities to which the voters have called it. Let’s not give up, we have to move forward,” she concluded on X.
Laurence Tubiana, economist and diplomat
Coming from the left, Laurence Tubiana has been a major player in ecology in France for some time now. Before committing to institutional missions from the end of the 1990s, she chaired Solagral, a non-governmental organization that campaigned, until its disappearance in the early 2000s, for the development of agriculture and biodiversity in third world countries.
A diplomat, but also an economist by training, Laurence Tubiana played a central role in the ecological policy implemented during François Hollande’s five-year term. Without ever being part of the government, she rose to the rank of French representative for the Paris Climate Conference 2015, then ambassador in charge of climate change negotiations and finally chief negotiator for COP 21. Since 2017, she has been head of the European Climate Foundation (ECF).
Laurence Tubiana judged too “Macron compatible” by LFI
“I cannot believe that after having vetoed Huguette Bello’s candidacy, Olivier Faure is preparing to try to impose on the New Popular Front a Macron-compatible candidacy for Matignon” reacted MP Paul Vannier. on X about Laurence Tubiana. A reproach made by many other rebels. If the economist and former president of the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate is accused of being too close or at least of being able to stick with Emmanuel Macron’s program, it is because she has been approached several times to be part of the government: in 2018 to replace Nicolas Hulot at the Ecological Transition and in 2020 to succeed Edouard Philippe at Matignon.
And in fact, the economist has indeed taken positions consistent with those of Emmanuel Macron and has sometimes praised his speech or his commitment to ecology, as during COP27 in 2022. Another, more recent, argument from La France insoumise to oppose the appointment of Laurence Tubiana for Matignon: the economist’s participation in a column published in The world on July 11 and calling on the New Popular Front to “reach out to other actors of the Republican Front to discuss a Republican emergency program.” Manuel Bompard had even considered his candidacy “not serious,” as indicated on BFMTV on July 16.
From civil society
Another point of disagreement between the PS and LFI on Laurence Tubiana’s candidacy: the fact that she comes from civil society. The economist, who was an activist for the Revolutionary Communist League in her youth and was Lionel Jospin’s assistant, has always considered herself left-wing, but has not pursued a career in politics. Laurence Tubiana is, however, far from being a stranger in this microcosm since she was an essential link in the policy implemented on ecology during François Hollande’s five-year term.
While the PS, the PCF and the Ecologists said they were open to a personality from civil society being appointed to Matignon, LFI had, only a few minutes before Laurence Tubiana’s name was put forward, always refused to support the candidacy of a non-political personality for Matignon. “The political blockage [sur le nom du Premier ministre potentiel] will not be resolved by improvising an external candidacy,” wrote LFI in a press release on July 16. Now, with the withdrawal of Laurence Tubiana, the question no longer arises.