“EELV opens and becomes “Les Ecologists””: these are the words that Marine Tondelier, the national secretary of the Europe Ecologie-Les Verts party, summarizes the event planned for Saturday, October 14, in Pantin (Seine-Saint- Denis), for which at least 1,300 people are expected, including some big names in ecology, such as former MP Noël Mamère.
EELV maintained this launch, despite the commotion caused by the knife attack in a high school in Arras during which a teacher was killed and two people seriously injured by a man registered as S.
While certain partners of the Nupes, PS and PCF, are thinking about their future within the Nupes, EELV does not intend to leave the alliance, but on the contrary to use its new movement to have “a mode of operation which restores the place to all the pluralities within this coalition”, according to the head of the environmentalist deputies Cyrielle Chatelain.
An “à la carte commitment”
A few months after her election as head of the party, Marine Tondelier launched, last February, the Estates General of Ecology, to bring together “the people of ecology” and lay the foundations of a “great movement of ecology”. ‘political ecology’. She then spoke of “a collective failure in 2022 to bring about the change that society needs”. The EELV presidential candidate, Yannick Jadot, achieved a disappointing score of 4.6%.
“We asked ourselves what didn’t work, why we couldn’t convince people. And we came up with answers, in particular on the fact that we had to be much more open, be more agile, extremely clear on our line,” notes Cyrielle Chatelain.
“Everything will change, except our values,” insists Marine Tondelier. “We are going to change the way of getting involved, allowing an à la carte commitment”, between those who want to join (and therefore contribute) to the party, and those who simply want to participate in certain events or training. The party hopes to bring together “one million” supporters by 2027.
The EELV name lasts until the European elections
The roadmap for the new movement will be presented on Saturday, based on a broad consultation carried out from February to April, to which nearly 30,000 people responded (including 75% non-members), said Léonore Moncond’huy, environmentalist mayor of Poitiers. .
The final document was submitted to a vote by members and supporters until Friday midnight. In particular, he plans to have “a more audible and more credible speech”, but also “more positive” and “less divisive”, specifies Ms. Moncond’huy.
The movement also aims to work “in reinforced cooperation with civil society” (associations, unions, activists), and to better welcome and train newcomers.
But EELV will not disappear on Saturday. The name will persist temporarily until the Europeans. And the outline of the movement remains unclear for the moment, until EELV modifies its statutes around February. “A statutory reform takes time if we want to do it well and have people buy into it,” insists Marine Tondelier, who will therefore remain national secretary of EELV for the moment.
As for the future name, “Les Ecologistes”, she assures that there is no legal problem, contrary to what Antoine Duarte, the president of a citizen movement of the same name, asserts. According to her, “it’s a common name, there is no ownership problem.”