Jean-Luc Mélenchon in Toulouse: ‘don’t believe the pseudo-projections, don’t believe only in yourselves’
The New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) held its big between-two-round meeting on Tuesday June 14 in Toulouse, in the presence of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The pink city had already been chosen by the leader of rebellious France to end his presidential campaign on April 3.
If Toulouse has always been a symbolic city for the left, it took on a particular value the day after the first round of the legislative elections, crystallizing all the hopes of Nupes in the final stretch of the campaign. Indeed, in the ten constituencies of Haute-Garonne, the Nupes qualified each time for the second round, with ballots often in its favor.
Candidates present on the stage of the Jean Mermoz room, with the notable exception of Joël Aviragnet, outgoing socialist deputy candidate under the banner of Nupes, but whose campaign manager is the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga, which did not hide his differences with the left-wing coalition.
“His boat sinks, Macron takes the plane”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon began his speech by commenting on the declaration of the Head of State, delivered a few hours earlier, just before he took off for an official trip to Romania and Moldova. A speech intended to encourage the French to mobilize for the second round of the legislative elections, Sunday, June 19, so that they grant him a “solid majority“.”It is said (…) ‘I’m going to go elsewhere to get noticed’ and in particular on the front line with Russia, which to me seems imprudent for the President of the French Republic“, declared Jean-Luc Mélenchon, evoking a “sketch on the tarmac“. Comparing the newly re-elected head of state to the former President of the United States, he continued: “It’s Trump fashion. Trump was an expert on this. Before getting on the plane, he insulted everyone and then he got on the plane. Trump was his friend to Mr. Macron (…) I just want to hope that the French President does not fall into all the bad habits of Mr. Trump, especially in the face of a bad electoral result.“.
“I hope it scares them, that I tell them about Karl Marx”.
The leader of Nupes then developed a little more than an hour during his favorite subjects, castigating what he considers to be climate inaction on the part of the government, but also his “economic shortsightedness“. He notably mentioned the prospect of soaring oil prices and criticized Emmanuel Macron, who is still at the helm. of the Council of the European Union until 30 June, to pay attention. “What is he waiting for to propose in the name of France the freezing of the price of oil?“, exclaimed Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
He also claimed in the name of a policy in favor of purchasing power to set the minimum level of retirement at 1063 euros and reaffirmed his desire to reduce the retirement age to 60 years. The founder of La France insoumise also mentioned the former Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, whose political formation, “Horizons”, participates in the presidential coalition of Emmanuel Macron: “Doudou, in terms of retirement, it’s 67 years old. VSThis will bring us back to the period of 1910, when the first retirement was at 65 (…) If you take into account the discounts, to make your full career, that means that you do not leave before 72 years old. So, at 71, being on a podium, we hold on. But carry a bag of cement, no“. During the presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron defended a pension reform that would eventually push back the legal retirement age to 65, or 64, depending on the discussions to come and the timetable that will ultimately be chosen.
“As Karl Marx said, the capitalist system wears out men and nature, and I hope that scares them, that I talk to them about Karl Marx“, continued Jean-Luc Mélenchon, before presenting the second round of the legislative elections as “a referendum between the neo-liberal macronists, and the solidarists of Nupes“.