Momentum was building on Monday behind attempts by French left-wing parties to form a united front against President Emmanuel Macron in next month’s parliamentary elections, after radical Jean-Luc Melenchon clinched a deal with the Greens.
Melenchon, who heads the hard-left France Insoumise party and almost pipped far-right leader Marine Le Pen to contest the presidential runoff against Macron, is pressing for an unprecedented alliance with the Greens, the Communists and the Socialists. The same poll put the far right on 31 per cent, though at that end of the political spectrum, moves to build an alliance are less clear-cut, with members of the conservatives torn between wanting to join Macron’s coalition, remain independent or gravitating towards Le Pen, who shares Melenchon’s euroscepticism.
In Melenchon’s deal with the Greens, the two parties said that, even if they agreed France should not exit the EU or abandon the euro, they were “ready to disobey European rules”, including on budgets and competition issues. His deal with the Greens includes plans to lower the retirement age to 60, raise the minimum wage and cap prices on essential products.