A jump into the deep end. This Wednesday evening in Paris, Léon Deffontaines held his first major meeting at the Japy gymnasium, one of the major houses of the Parisian left. A little over a thousand loyal communist activists came to support their head of the list who, at 28 years old, intends to influence the future of the party, and to be part of this new rising generation on the left. According to the polls, the step still seems a little high to become a Member of the European Parliament next June. In a space on the left already saturated by lists, his is struggling to break through and remains credited with between 2 and 3% of voting intentions. Doing better than Ian Brossat’s 2.49% in 2019 would therefore already be seen as a mission accomplished.
Léon Deffontaines was able to count on the flights of Fabien Roussel to heat up the gymnasium. The national secretary of the PCF knows the place well. He made his voice heard during his 2022 presidential campaign. “Our European deputies will say stop, we are no longer distributing public money to groups that distribute dividends. Finished! Our MEPs will fight for all employees in Europe, to index all salaries to inflation,” promised Fabien Roussel.
At the podium, Léon Deffontaines defended his very Euro-critical vision, denouncing an EU in the hands of the “bureaucracy”, “technocrats” and “liberals”. The communist deplored “this Europe which destroys the future of millions of young people” by putting “workers in competition” and which “relocates our companies”. For him, “this Brussels bureaucracy is only good at imposing standards and has no use for nations.” “May this Europe die!”, he insisted. Without mentioning the name of his competitor Raphaël Glucksmann, the head of the list took the opportunity to single out the “European socialists” who “vote hand in hand with Mrs Von Der Leyer for the return of austerity”.
The communist also made fun of the “euro-gagas” who “say every day that Europe is an opportunity”, under the pretext of the Erasmus programs alone. “Europe has attacked our public services, but don’t worry, we have Erasmus. Europe has increased our EDF bills, but don’t worry, we have Erasmus,” he mocked. “Let them go and tell the workers at Whirpool, to those at Metex back home in Amiens!” By continuing: “We want to build another Europe. A Europe that protects workers, by allowing salaries and pensions to increase and bills to be lowered.
To stand out in this campaign, Léon Deffontaines also challenged Jordan Bardella by offering him a debate. “Where he wants, when he wants,” he told the representative of the National Rally, well ahead in the polls. “Projects against projects, it will be something other than against Valérie Hayer,” quipped the communist in reference to a previous debate between the Macronist candidate and that of the RN. “We will see who best defends the workers of this country. I am ready to show him that he is a liar, that he is deceiving the French and that he has no response to give in the face of the social anger that is brewing in our country,” he said.
Convinced that the film of these European elections is not yet finished, Léon Deffontaines said “reach out his hand to left-wing voters, to those who hesitate”. “I would like to tell you that between the excesses of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the liberalism of Raphaël Glucksmann, I am proud to be at the head of a large gathering list of the left, that of the left united for the world work,” he said. Concluding: “We have 25 days left, 25 days to convince the French.”