"The spring of the left and ecology": a rallying strategy advocated by Olivier Faure, the leader of the Socialists, against all odds. And in particular against some caciques of the party and certain federations. Olivier Faure is determined to follow the same line during the next electoral, departmental, regional and presidential elections. A line that he will continue to defend at the next PS Congress to be held before the end of the year and during which he will seek a new mandate.
Compared to last year in La Rochelle, do you have the feeling that this University can be useful to the left?
OLIVIER FAURE. The meeting of the left after, it is a first response to the immense hope which arose the day after the municipal elections. The rebirth through the territories which had been the commitment of my mandate has been achieved. Now, while the PS has taken on its colors, we must build with our partners the “left after” capable of becoming a social, ecological, democratic and feminist alternative to the Marine Le Pen / Macron duo. This is the essential way to succeed in changing the lives of French people.
You have succeeded in bringing in many leaders from the left, especially environmentalists. However, does that mean that the rallying bet has been won?
I thank them for having responded because the urgency is there. The new school year is taking place in an unprecedented social, ecological and health economic climate. Tensions are mounting in society. The company fractured on the pension reform after having known the yellow vests. The planet is burning. We must offer a strong alternative. We have no more time to waste in building a project coalition. I think this feeling is shared by the leaders I have met during these days. The gathering has more and more believers. Now we also need practitioners.
Some within the PS still reproach you for erasing yourself behind the Greens?
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What I want is to create a common path where everyone is respected for what they bring. Who can believe in erasure when, on the contrary, the municipal authorities have demonstrated our territorial strength. Divisions, poor stones and individual strategies are all symptoms of the autoimmune disease of the left. They destroy us from within. The French will not forgive us for not being up to the moment and they will be right.
Environmentalists have started announcing candidates for regional. What will the PS do?
What I propose is to launch together the “spring of the left and ecology”: a collective approach open to all, open to the entire social movement, to intellectuals, artists, young people… Each party will designate its leaders. But then I hope that in this context we can meet to define in each region who is the one who is best placed to lead our lists that I want common.
Will there be a Congress before the regional ones?
There will be a Congress in the fall which will allow activists to be consulted on the direction I am taking.
So you will be a candidate for your own succession?
Yes.
What is the direction you will defend?
I want a party that recalls what it is. Republican, secular, social, ecological, feminist and European. And who engages in dialogue with a view to the gathering. I want to end the spirit of defeat that has gripped the left for too long.
Do you think there may be a common candidate from the left in 2022?
I will answer you with a question. Do you think that five or six candidates from the left in 2022 can lead to something other than defeat in the first round? The risk of erasure is there!