Is it the fact of having become "quadra"? Is it the fact of being now the national secretary of EELV? Still, Julien Bayou seems to have matured and swapped his teenage look for a more classic style for these regional elections. No more t-shirt and tousled hair in the wind. From now on, during “big” meetings, he appears in a dark suit and sometimes even dares to wear a tie. Is he slowly fitting into the mold of ex-rebels who have become sober professional politicians? Not sure. This ex-choirboy of the parish of Sainte-Élisabeth - "the parish priest was called Dieulafait, that cannot be invented" - who has not yet settled his internal debate on God but who easily admits to reading encyclicals and even to be passionate about it, has found its religion over the years: ecology.
Moreover, it is enough to ask him to speak about him so that he launches out loud in ... ecology and the reasons for his associative activism which has become very political today. His first media appearances, he owes them to shouts, rants. With friends including Karima Delli, now EELV MEP and president of this body of the powerful transport and tourism committee, he founded Black Thursday and Save the Rich. Two lively flayed collectives who want to fight against poor housing or denounce the “destruction” of the planet by the most fortunate.
We see him in the spotlight in actions that are sometimes a little “offbeat”.
“It is bubbling over with sometimes far-fetched ideas”, underlines Karima Delli, who remembers, with a touch of nostalgia in her voice, this May Day parade, “when, with the collective Save the Rich, we mingled with the horse-drawn carriage rides with real horses!
Neither is he immune to blunders, as with the stigma of “boomers”.
Victim of a burnout 12 years ago, he gets up
But Julien Bayou is undoubtedly much more complex than his media image.
A Parisian, he completed his high school in the capital, in Turgot (in the 3rd arrondissement), before very classic studies at the IEP in Strasbourg, then at Sciences-po Paris where he obtained a DEA.
However, at this age when passionate students wishing to get involved are turning to unionism - many have worn their jeans on the chairs of the Unef - he remains in the background, "far from all that".
He prefers another form of involvement and works for NGOs linked to Africa.
This is where he takes his first real slap.
“I saw that life with others was not necessarily so calm.
And that in the end, many suffered.
For me, it then appeared necessary to move the lines, ”explains the Green candidate.
Housing, companies that abuse internships and interns, favoritism… It is then all the fights.
But by wanting to do too much, he collapses.
“I was an employee, a staff representative, I was traveling in Africa, but one morning my body said stop.
It took me thirty minutes to get downstairs from my house and another thirty minutes to get to the doctor around the corner.
I had a burnout, ”he admits simply.
This fall will be beneficial.
We are at the end of 2008, beginning of 2009. Julien Bayou has hit rock bottom and is pushing hard on his feet to come back to the surface.
Eva Joly for guide at EELV
At EELV, he finds his place, his role and a guide, Eva Joly. He, the little Parisian, the teenager from Alfortville (Val-de-Marne), waiter at Vésinet (Yvelines), pizza delivery man, was elected to the region in 2010 for the first time and discovered the mysteries of power. So much so that he resumed his studies and went into law.
"He plays politics with his guts," slips David Belliard, environmentalist deputy for transport to Anne Hidalgo (PS) in Paris. Some people explain to you that to lead a region, you need a policy of compromise, but Julien is not that type of person and that is one of his qualities. He kept a form of revolt in him. But a revolt that is more calm, more constructed and above all better controlled. He also became a lawyer last year and his law studies helped him to deepen his cases and to know the Île-de-France inside and out and its problems of transport, agriculture, 'employment…
This region he loves is that of escapades in the forest of Fontainebleau to test new climbing routes, that of walks in the forest of Montmorency, that of moments for two at his companion in Seine-et-Marne or even moments of complicity with her cat Tillit who even has her Instagram account. Not to mention the online chess games in front of strangers to relax, or the real passion he has for the Romanian fanfare Ciocarlia.
Yes, Julien Bayou is more complex than it seems and his rapid rise under the wing of Yannick Jadot confirms the emergence of young ecology shoots.
At 40, and even if he is far behind the outgoing president Valérie Pécresse (Libres!) In the polls, he could well see himself carrying the alternation at the headquarters of the region in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis ).
“Audrey Pulvar (Ile-de-France in common) must rally to him.
He is the future ”, asserts an elected Green on condition of anonymity.
And to conclude: "But will the egos be able to be silent?
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Its 5 flagship proposals
200,000 jobs in the ecological transition.
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By investing in thermal renovation, by favoring SMEs for the renovation and construction of high schools, by tripling the number of farms in Île-de-France, by re-establishing springboard jobs for associations and the ESS, we can directly create 200,000 jobs that cannot be relocated.
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Standardization of public aid for the Paris Climate Agreement.
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The region's budget is 5 billion per year.
We want this budget to make it possible to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement by qualifying public aid.
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Priority to everyday transport.
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With the deployment of on-demand transport in the outer suburbs, work on multimodality (deployment of bicycles, parking at stations for example), the renovation of RER B and D, tram lines, we want to put the package on the daily transport.
We will improve tranquility in transport with a prevention brigade.
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A comprehensive health plan.
“The health crisis has shown how the Ile-de-France is in poor health.
We have a plan for global health with a regional agency against endocrine disruptors, help with the installation of health centers, the fight against the 200 black spots of noise or even help with complementary health for them. youth.
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The vegetarian choice in school canteens.
“We will implement the daily vegetarian choice in high schools with a triple effect: it's good for our farmers, it's good for the health of the students, it's good for the climate. "