France’s New Ecological and Social People’s Union (NUPES), a left-wing electoral alliance aimed in part at combating the rising far-right, is “dead”, one of its leaders has stated.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of the far-left NUPES member La France Insoumise (LFI), described the coalition as being “unsalvageable”.
“There is no more NUPES,” he told supporters while attending a recent event in Belgium. He said it was now unlikely that the constituent parties would run a joint list for the European elections next year.
“I admit that what we have built is already destroyed,” Mélenchon said.
The left-wing leader also lamented a failed attempt to draw up another alliance with France’s Green Party.
“We proposed that a Green be at the top of the list,” he said. “Whoever they want.
“What could we have done better?”
Mélenchon went on to insist that LFI would now take on the growing French Right alone, with the 72-year-old claiming that the vote would come down to either his party, or Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN).
“We are going to face and beat the Front National,” he said, using the right-wing party’s previous name.
“You know, like me, that in the end it is between them and us.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, founder of France’s left-wing La France Insoumise party, has sanctioned one of his own MPs for calling his party undemocratic. https://t.co/soz8KF3R33
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 8, 2023
The terminal diagnosis for NUPES comes after a shaky few months for the political alliance.
With controversy surrounding Mélenchon a regular feature within the group, cracks really began to show after the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7.
While LFI and other leftist groups in France took a pro-Palestine approach to the conflict, the Socialist Party was more sceptical, instead wanting to be seen as publicly backing Israel.
It subsequently announced it was putting a “moratorium” on its membership over the stand-off, removing the “NUPES” title from its parliamentary group soon after.
NUPES’ demise could further cement the chances of an RN victory in the coming European elections, with the party polling at 28 per cent, according to recent data.
French lawmakers have been told by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to ditch WhatsApp and Telegram in favour of French messenger apps to protect cybersecurity. https://t.co/RFo94Pq82F
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 30, 2023
