While the vote was held on Thursday to appoint the first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), the outgoing Olivier Faure and his rival, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, are both claiming victory. On Saturday evening again, a commission was trying to resolve differences to prevent implosion.
The work of the commission that must validate the results is not finished. Do you still consider yourself the winner of the congress?
The result is crisp and clear. Voting time is over. I thank the socialists for having confirmed me in the most beautiful of functions, that of leading and animating the party of social and ecological justice. Now my responsibility is to unite us. I did this at every stage of the convention. First gathering five general contributions. I will continue
As allegations of cheating mount and attacks reported, isn’t the PS on the verge of breaking?
I have confidence in the militants and the elected representatives of the socialist party. The affirmation in the gathering of leftists and ecologists, which I bring, adds up to more than 80% of us. True, there are questions and concerns that have been expressed. There are also electoral scars that do not heal. Doubts must be heard and answered. But we have to get out of this sometimes exaggerated face to face.
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Some manufacture doubts and create suspicion to contaminate the result
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Several socialist leaders dispute the sincerity of the vote given the scope of the irregularities…
No irregularity is tolerated, but some fabricate doubts and create suspicion to taint the result. Moreover, they are the same people, with the same methods, as in the disastrous congress of Reims… The congresses exacerbate tensions, but we must go beyond this fratricidal war. Leader wars have ruined the reputation of socialists for many years. This congress must bring a message of unity and hope. For the socialists, for the entire left and for the French, starting with the youth! We took the PS out of isolation and returned to the heart on the left. In 2018, at the demonstrations, we left the processions under whistles. Today we are back at home. Who wants to come back? Behind the united unions, with the whole of the left, we lead the fight against the pension reform that Borne and Ciotti want. The moment calls for everyone to come together.
Are there actions to be taken to close the wounds?
Everyone must recognize that a line has emerged and that, therefore, it is not a question of leaving the gathering of leftists and environmentalists. A coiled PS, a PS that only talks to the PS, is a dead end. It is good for a congress, but sterile for a project. Me, I make a bet: that of the left-wing union. On this basis, all those who want to work seriously are welcome. I want a direction open to the different sensibilities of the party. I intend to bring the whole family together and put an end to the cacophony. Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol will be associated with the strategic orientations, especially the European ones, since it is on this subject that he has expressed his greatest concern from the beginning.
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We cannot say that we have to give PS a central place and spend our lives shooting at it
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What do you say to Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, who accuses you of “damaging the party”?
I don’t intend to jump in with both feet on every controversy that happens. But we can’t say that we have to return a central place to the PS and spend our lives shooting at it. It’s a paradox I can’t solve. Let’s not stoop to this distressing spectacle, which every day disgusts the French a little more with political life when the battle for pensions begins.
What should be the role of the PS tomorrow?
I want us to dress in ecological socialism, end of month and end of the world. But for the ecological discourse to pass, it must be married to a renewed social ambition. We must be the party of retirees first. To be the party of the peripheral and rural territories, in which we live the decline. We must endorse the ruptures. Break with market society, because not everything is for sale. Break with a certain idea of meritocracy, which despises the frontline professions of attachment and care. Break with the abandonment of the public service, which is the tool for protecting our common goods.
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I request the organization of a referendum on pension reform
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For pensions, the victory goes down the street?
I call on all socialists to join the trade union movement on January 31st and make our voices heard. We need a show of force that will make our opposition inevitable. The president wants to force himself and is counting on our resignation: let’s show him our determination in the face of the permanent blow of 49-3. Were we between 1 and 2 million on Thursday? Well, let’s make the 31st even better! Macron has neither a mandate, nor a majority, nor a consensus for this counter-reform that is rejected by between 70 and 80% of the French. He was re-elected to block the extreme right, and not to resort to our social model. I request the organization of a referendum. Since Emmanuel Macron claims that he was re-elected for retirement at the age of 64, he should not be afraid to ask the French people the question!
Why not go to the march against pensions on Saturday, called by La France insoumise?
The social movement must be led by the united trade union front. This union is rare enough to be respected.
For the European elections, do you definitely close the door to the union with the Insoumis?
The debate took place. There is no reason to go back. I would like us to show the colors of ecological socialism in France and throughout the Union with our friends from the Party of European Socialists. [PSE].
You are asking for a single candidacy from the left in 2027. With primaries?
I ask for a coalition contract and then seek its incarnation. A classical primary does not generate sums, but subtractions. But this is not the time to select a candidate. I am always fascinated and amazed by people who run after their own destiny without ever worrying about the collective interest. Today you have three competing blogs. The extreme right, the liberal right and the left. To leave divided is to commit political suicide. The French need a lively and joyful left, which wins to regain hope for a better life for all!
Source : Le JDD
