“I can’t take it anymore, I can’t take it anymore, these controversies, these diversions which prevent the left from being heard.” The refusal of La France insoumise (LFI) to qualify Hamas as a “terrorist” group was therefore the last straw for the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure. His troops chose Tuesday evening to suspend their participation in the Nupes until the Mélenchonists have “clarified” their positions. For their part, the communists called on Sunday to “turn the page” on the alliance built in May 2022.
The conclusion of more than a year of life together, punctuated by crises and controversies. From tensions over China to the war between Israel and Hamas, including pension reform and the July riots… Le Figaro reviews these six moments which weakened Nupes.
We have to wait two short months after the legislative elections to see the Nupes begin to fracture. In the depths of summer, tension rises between China and Taiwan after the visit of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to the island. In a blog note published on August 2, 2022, Jean-Luc Mélenchon denounces a “provocation” by the Americans whom he accuses of “wanting to open a new front.” “There is only one China,” asserts the Insoumis, recalling that this position has also been that of France since 1965.
Also read Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Taiwan: “We must not forget its visceral anti-Americanism”
This resumption of the official discourse of the Chinese authorities is criticized by socialists and environmentalists. In Le Journal du Dimanche, the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, believes that the Insoumis “leaves open the door to annexation” of the democratic province. “Our duty is to politically support democrats wherever they are and not to give any support to authoritarian regimes,” he recalls in the weekly.
But it is from the start of the 2022 school year that Nupes experiences its first real storm. In September, the “national coordinator” of LFI, Adrien Quatennens, stepped back from coordinating the movement after admitting a slap against his wife. The deputy from the North can then count on the kind words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who salutes his “dignity” and his “courage” in the face of “police malice” and “media voyeurism”. The support of his mentor goes down badly on the left, where we deplore the lack of empathy for the partner of the elected official.
Also read: Adrien Quatennens, a discreet return after the legal and political storm
Convicted in December for domestic violence, Adrien Quatennens was suspended for four months from his parliamentary group. Forced to sit on the non-registered benches, he spoke again for the first time in February 2023. In reaction, the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau immediately left the Chamber, followed by some of her colleagues, including the deputy national secretary of ‘EELV, Sandra Regol. Insoumis was finally reintegrated into the LFI group in April, despite the opposition of many deputies from other Nupes groups. The Socialist Party condemns in a press release an “unacceptable” decision and “incompatible with the values defended and carried by Nupes”.
It was a battle that was supposed to cement the union. At the beginning of January, Nupes announced the same objective: to reduce the legal retirement age to 60 years. But a disagreement arose during February on the strategy to adopt during the examination of the bill in the National Assembly, in particular on its article 7, establishing retirement at 64 years old.
The Insoumis are banking on parliamentary obstruction – by tabling 13,000 amendments – to prevent the examination of the text and the vote of deputies on this article which they consider too risky. The maneuver irritates the rest of the Nupes, who wish, on the contrary, to initiate a substantive debate on the subject. Socialists, ecologists and communists even withdrew their amendments to speed up discussions up to article 7. The rebellious benches refused to follow the movement and maintained the blockage.
After the death of Nahel, killed on June 27 during a police check in Nanterre, several cities were gripped by violent riots. As the nights of chaos continue, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his troops refuse to call for calm. “The watchdogs order us to call for calm. We call for justice,” says the rebellious leader on X (ex-Twitter).
LFI’s position is uncomfortable within Nupes, where the other parties want the return of “civil peace” in the country. The boss of the PS, Olivier Faure, first made known his “deep disagreement” with the leader of the Insoumis. Before driving the point home to the press: “I consider that La France insoumise is going astray, that it is not where it should be, that it is not where we expect it. That even the idea she has of the people is not consistent with reality.” The communist Fabien Roussel followed suit and “dissociated himself” from the words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The summer break has obviously not relaxed the spirits within the Nupes. Here again, it is Jean-Luc Mélenchon who first launches hostilities. During his media tour, the three-time presidential candidate admits that he does not hold his left-wing partners in his heart. “I do not like them. No,” he blurted out on the BFM set.
For his part, Fabien Roussel is no longer holding back his blows against Nupes, which he considers “outdated”. The communist’s little music annoys the rebellious benches, where people do not hesitate to throw the stone of disunity at him. In a post relayed on her Facebook account on September 21, LFI MP Sophia Chikirou went so far as to call Fabien Roussel a “collaborator”, comparing him to Jacques Doriot – an ex-communist who became a collaborator during the Second World War. The slippage of this very close to Jean-Luc Mélenchon outrages the left, including part of the rebellious ranks.
The controversy leaves its mark. A month later, on October 16, Fabien Roussel announced that he was leaving the Nupes intergroup. “As an MP, it’s clear. I cannot sit at the same table as those who called me a Nazi,” he told Franceinfo.
This is a new blow which could this time seal the future of the coalition. On October 7, Israel was shaken by a salvo of terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas, the death toll of which rose to more than 1,300. While the political class condemns with one voice, LFI refuses to describe the abuses committed by the Islamist group as “terrorist”.
The rest of the Nupes distances itself from the rebellious movement, whose ambiguities are even denounced by LFI figures like François Ruffin. To mark their disagreement, socialists, ecologists and communists are boycotting the work of the intergroup until further notice. On October 15, the PCF took a step forward by calling for the alliance to “turn the page”, without however slamming the door. Subsequently, on October 17, the PS voted for a “moratorium” on its participation in Nupes, asking for a “clarification” of the values and method of the coalition. Isolated by his partners, Jean-Luc Mélenchon responds and accuses Olivier Faure of breaking “the Nupes for personal matters regarding Israel-Palestine”.
