How Jean-Luc Mélenchon intends to use the pension episode to regain control – France

His Thursday afternoon summed up his positioning. Jean-Luc Mélenchon first followed, from the stands of the Assembly, the outburst of rebellious deputies who denounced the use of 49.3 by a Marseillaise covering the voice of Elisabeth Borne.

Then he crossed the Seine to join the rally at the call of Solidaires on the Place de la Concorde; the perfect opportunity for a walkabout opportunely broadcast by the non-stop news channels. A few meters away, the former leader of the “yellow vests” Jérôme Rodrigues wanted the junction of anger. The next day, Jean-Luc Mélenchon “encourages (has)” the “spontaneous mobilizations throughout the country” because, according to him, “that’s where it’s happening”.

Try to embody the sequel

Even if he then also launched an appeal to follow the days of the inter-union, “the words are not chosen at random: when he says spontaneous and unorganized, it is without the trade union organizations”, annoys a of its leaders who foresees: “He will try to do the icing again, to embody the rest”.

A way for the Insoumis to turn the page after a review of the text in the Assembly, marked by controversial agit-prop blows. And above all by major strategic differences within his own camp around the choice, made by Mr. Mélenchon, to maintain thousands of amendments until the end, even if it means widening the gap with unions in favor of a vote.

In the shadow of the unions

Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to believe that the flame has rekindled from the Assembly, where the Marseillaise sung on Thursday “liberated the energies”, he writes on his blog. “Immediately, the first popular street rallies mobilized”. Whether the cause and effect link is proven or not, the former presidential candidate is burning to be a driving force for the protest, after weeks of stamping their feet in the shadow of the unions.

“The intersyndicale is in a longer time, we are vigilant to anything that may arise in the meantime”, indicates the deputy LFI Paul Vannier, close to Mr. Mélenchon. “He is a spokesperson, holder of the vote of eight million people (7.7 Editor’s note) in the presidential election (of 2022), which is still close”, recalls this lieutenant.

“Strike the iron while it’s hot”

Former traveling companion of the rebellious, François Cocq, now distant from LFI, believes that Mr. Mélenchon now concludes “that we must strike the iron while it is hot, not wait for the days of the inter-union which does not ‘bring no victory’, nor Monday’s no-confidence motion – which should not succeed unless surprised – or a referendum of shared initiative.

This RIP, Jean-Luc Mélenchon did not even mention it. However, it is on everyone’s lips of its Nupes partners who want to make it the big campaign for the next few months. Too slow and heavy for the Insoumis, who pride themselves on being in the action.

Rather, they hope to frustrate the reform in the heat of the social movement, an uncertain and risky scenario but one that better suits their revolutionary political imagination. “They have a tactical hesitation on the RIP and its timing. They do not want to give the impression of renouncing the mobilization of the street, ”explains the ecologist deputy Benjamin Lucas.

“The outcome of the crisis will condition the possible outlets”

But unlike the Mélenchon volcano of the “yellow vests” period, the rebellious leader, if he is “very radical in substance, is very measured in form in order to reassure”, underlines François Cocq. “It was solemn, the moment was, we experienced a tipping point in our democracy”, abounds Benjamin Lucas. “He knows that the outcome of the crisis will condition the possible outlets” in the next elections.

The Insoumis expect a dissolution in the short or medium term, reports Paul Vannier. “If the motion of censure passes, Macron would have no other choice. And in the medium term the contradictions of the macronist bloc will be exacerbated and the president will be led to dissolve an Assembly that he no longer controls ”.