La France insoumise (LFI) presented, on Wednesday March 6, its list for the European elections next June, which will unsurprisingly be led by MEP Manon Aubry. Also among the eligible personalities will be the former coordinator of Génération.s Arash Saeidi, the former MEP of Europe-Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) Damien Carême and the Franco-Palestinian jurist Rima Hassan.
“It is a list from the Popular Union which greatly exceeds LFI, with 20% of opening candidates,” said MP Paul Vannier, responsible for elections at LFI, during a press conference. This list is now subject to consultation by “rebellious” activists, who have until Friday March 15 at noon to make their decision, on the eve of a convention of the Popular Union in Villepinte, which will officially launch the movement’s campaign.
“A match for all battles”
In the order of eligibility are, behind the head of the list – Manon Aubry – the outgoing “rebellious” MEPs Younous Omarjee and Marina Mesure, as well as the labor inspector and CGT trade unionist Anthony Smith, who had been sanctioned by his hierarchy for requiring masks for employees during the Covid-19 crisis. Followed by the “rebellious” MEP Leïla Chaibi, then the former coordinator of the Génération.s movement Arash Saeidi, suspended from his functions due to internal divisions.
Pro-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan, who grew up in a camp in Syria and founded the Refugee Camp Observatory in 2019, comes seventh on the list. The 31-year-old lawyer, a naturalized French citizen, gave a controversial interview to the media Le Crayon in November, where she considered it “true” that Hamas was taking legitimate action. “I don’t think he’s a divisive personality,” LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard retorted on Wednesday, assuring that it was “an honor to have him on our list.” She is accused of supporting Hamas? “We do too, that’s not why it’s true,” he replied.
Former environmentalist MEP Damien Carême, who left EELV in October denouncing an environmentalist list “doomed to failure”, will be in eighth position, ahead of the two co-hosts of Jeunes Insoumis, Emma Fourreau and Aurélien Lecoq.
“It is a list worthy of all the battles that we are going to wage” and “in the image of the people”, declared Manon Aubry, reiterating her call for the gathering of “all the orphans of Nupes”. Manuel Bompard urged people not to choose the “lists of disunity”, namely the lists of left-wing parties which refused to form a common list, affirming: “The higher we are, the more we will be prepared to take power from the national level” in 2027.
In total, the list currently has 79 candidates. Two final candidates in an ineligible position, undoubtedly including Jean-Luc Mélenchon, will be presented at the convention on March 16.
