Tuesday January 14, Fabien Roussel’s number appears on Marine Tondelier’s smartphone. The head of the French Communist Party and the national secretary of the Ecologists have in common that, with the Socialist Party, they have agreed to negotiate with the government. The first is no longer a deputy, the second never was. So, it was from the streets of Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), her stronghold, and during a leafleting session, that the boss of the Greens listened to François Bayrou’s general policy speech.
A few minutes later, Fabien Roussel is also green, but with rage. He feels cheated by the Prime Minister’s announcements and says so on the phone to Marine Tondelier. She sends him back to the ropes: “It was you who was optimistic.” Two days earlier, Eric Lombard, the tenant of Bercywhom she finds “objectively nice and sincere” – he returns the compliment – had taken her out of the game. “You are too far from the agreement, that’s why I didn’t invite you to the meeting Monday with the socialists”, he told her. And the boss of the Greens retorts that it doesn’t matter, in any case, she is not available because she will be in the Marne for her “Tour de France of inverted wishes” – a meeting during which she “listens to the wishes of the French rather than making their own”. Either way, she and her troops are convinced that the socialists have been fooled. The ecologists, who will end up signing the motion of censure from the left after the general policy declaration, will not have a shaking hand.
“I always said that the equation was insoluble”
Were the dice loaded by the government? The national secretary had faked hers. The proof, not by contortion, but by double negative: “I gave the necessary but not sufficient conditions so that we do not vote for censorship”, she explains on a TV set, while we asks him about his presence at the negotiations. Note to slow-witted people: “She meant that without the repeal of the pension reform, the account would not be there. And that with the repeal of the pension reform, the account would not be there either “, tries to clarify those around him. Marine Tondelier, in any case, never really believed in the outcome of these discussions. To her family, she confided: “I have always said that the equation was insoluble. I am going there because I do not want to give them the excuse of negotiating with the extreme right, because we would not have gone see them.”
Bercy no longer understands anything, the advisors finally think that the ecologists are watching the socialists; the Green House does not have this pretension, any more than the Roses have this concern – “it’s the story of the frog and the ox”, says a PS negotiator. No, environmentalists simply play the role of good left conscience. “We are not the rating agency of our partners. But we have this role of influencing, of reorienting the entire left,” says Guillaume Gontard, senator and green negotiator. Because their fight is not limited to the color of Marine Tondelier’s jacket, despite the words of certain EELV pundits, who still deplore the absence of ecological ambitions in the program of the New Popular Front. The 7 billion required to relaunch the ecological transition? Swept aside by the executive who only offers a few million. A casus belli for Tondelier who feels, on this subject, very alone in the NFP.
On the verge of turning things around? Thursday January 16, at around 1 p.m., the number 2 environmentalist, David Cormand, became aware of a missive sent by François Bayrou to the Socialist Party. He turns his eye. What if the socialists had succeeded? Another close friend of Marine Tondelier takes to quoting Philippe Rickwaert, the main character of the series Black Baron : “From where I come from, that is to say from the people, when we can take, we take. Because we need them. We do not reject advantages because perhaps later in an ideal world you can get better ones.” Because the truths of Tuesday are not those of Thursday in the Assembly, the socialists – who are still arguing over the merits of non-censorship – note that the Prime Minister is giving in to the demands of Olivier Faure and Boris Vallaud.
Here are the environmentalists, suddenly, a little more hesitant. Censor or renounce? Marine Tondelier is getting confused. “The concessions listed by François Bayrou are largely the result of the parliamentary work carried out this fall by the New Popular Front. Our discussions over the last few weeks with the executive have made it possible to secure them […]. We can be proud to have protected the French from major social setbacks in perspective,” she says in the first version of a press release, while deploring the “inaction” of the government on the ecology front that her partners do not see it. “We will come back to it,” she concludes, without specifying whether the EELV deputies will censor it. She will do so a few minutes later, in a second version of the press release: “First we have a motion. of censorship to vote…” Equidistance requires a bit of gymnastics.
“No reason” that the 2027 joint candidacy should not be environmentalist
It is like this: Marine Tondelier is stuck in a vice that she struggles, with difficulty, to loosen. “The challenge for the Greens is not to decide on the basis of the Socialist Party or LFI,” she nevertheless told L’Express. Above all, it is important not to leave anything to their allies. Would the ecologists become a hunting trophy in these internal struggles opposing the two hegemonic forces of the New Popular Front? The national secretary wants to be a dove of peace. Arbitrator of elegance too, let’s say it… Sometimes, she blows in the bronchi of her partners – and lets it be known. “I don’t understand his enthusiasm,” she slips about Olivier Faure who, a few hours before François Bayrou’s general policy speech, had shown excessive enthusiasm. As for the pressure exerted by the Mélenchonists on the socialists, the former ordering the latter to leave the negotiating table with the executive, she deplores its harshness: “When Jean-Luc says to the socialists ‘go back to the doghouse’, What does he hope for?” It also happens that she wonders, a bit worried: “Will the PS and the rebels continue to play with fire until the explosion of the NFP?” A socialist pundit warns her: “Be careful Marine, the permanent splits hurt your adductors!” On the other hand, it has been a few weeks since she stopped speaking to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, too insulting for her taste.
Marine Tondelier therefore drapes herself in the trappings of the New Popular Front, in its most pacifist version. The image annoys those outside her party, where many of her partners criticize, anonymously, sometimes the lack of clarity from the boss of the ecologists, sometimes her successive reversals. But within the Green House, where activists remain particularly sensitive to the question of the unity of the left, the brand is attractive. She disarms internal opponents, some of whom are pleading not to present any candidate against her, just to demonetize her probable victory… Others are considering a candidacy to strengthen their profile, like former MEP Karima Delli who, it is said, is eyeing Lille town hall. To his people, Tondelier often suggests that this congress is only a formality. To continue to be the imposing third media voice of the NFP.
Or a discreet third presidential lane to port? Last November, she and the short-lived summer candidate for Matignon, Lucie Castets, together called for a “common candidacy” from the left for the next presidential election. The next day, Jean-Luc Mélenchon did the same, with the caveat that the latter had to be rebellious. Faced with the western of initiatives, Cyrielle Chatelain, head of the green deputies, sets the framework: “To win, the question of experience is a criterion. We are talking about being in the second round against someone who has three presidential elections in the paws.” But but but… There is always a future for those who think about the future, said Mitterrand. Marine Tondelier couldn’t say it better. She is also thinking about her own, it is believed in the Green House, where some accuse her of preparing her own candidacy. She readily answers: “If the question is ‘should ecologists play a role, not just by being masters of ceremonies?’, that’s for sure! There is no reason for us to assume that the joint application must not be environmentalist in any way.” She adds: “We don’t make it a prerequisite for gathering. And everyone should do the same!” As if to gain credibility, the one who is never stingy with little phrases, now asks to be able to talk about substance rather than political politics. The journalists of Humanity heard it. Bad luck to them! When they asked her to explain the relationship between political ecology and class struggle, she brushed it off: “I want us to stop beating each other up. (sic).”
Marine Tondelier prisoner of her image? Backtracking. Tuesday October 8, here she infiltrates the Avignon court. On its 24th day, the Mazan trial continues to stir the country, and more. Journalists from around the world traveled to follow and report on the defense of Gisèle Pelicot, drugged and raped by her ex-husband and dozens of other men for ten years. Every day, a small crowd comes to applaud the courage of this woman. We don’t come across any leading politicians there. Should he have come? The green deputies thought about it, even organized themselves to reach Avignon and provide support to the victim, coming in cohorts, the blue-white-red scarf pinned to their chests. Party officials made them listen to reason. Madness. Sandrine Rousseau, feminist face of the party, found the idea inappropriate. Marine Tondelier does not embarrass herself with this modesty. The warnings from those close to him who fear accusations of exploitation and political exploitation have no effect. She promises to be discreet. This October day, the general secretary of the Ecologists walks, anonymously, through the crowd of journalists who at first do not recognize her. Before joining the queue in front of the trial broadcast room, she takes from her bag this green jacket that she wears immutably, her political standard, and puts it on. Finally, it catches the eye.
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