In Besançon, the members of EELV in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté voted to decide on strategic orientations. Even if it remains to obtain the validation of the national office, the Côte-d’Orienne Stéphanie Modde is on track to become leader in order to prepare the regional elections of 2021 and to negotiate with other political formations in order to create a large “environmentalist pole”.
At the Grand Kursaal in Besançon, this Saturday, October 3, 2020, the regional general assembly of Europe Écologie Les Verts was held. Scheduled to accommodate activists from across the greater region, the general assembly had to be adapted to take into account health measures. About thirty people were present while the other members were able to follow at a distance.
Regional co-secretary, with Claire Mallard, Cécile Prudhomme spoke at the end of the meeting to announce the results of the votes on the strategic orientations. Of the 410 members of Europe Écologie Les Verts in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, 150 took part in the votes, ie a participation of just over 35%.
A complex designation process
86% of the members said they were in favor of the constitution of an “ecological pole” bringing together all the political parties able to sign the call to build “an ecological region” (read the press release). The first signatories are obviously EELV then Génération Écologie, the Independent Ecological Alliance and Cap 21 (which is a partner of EELV at the national level).
During this meeting, the environmentalists did not vote to immediately designate the head of the list but to designate the people proposed to the national office which will have to validate them. They are therefore leaders. The national office should make a decision by the end of October by harmonizing parity throughout France.
The statutes of EELV imply a method of designation by gender college. Jurassic Pascal Blain being the only male candidate, he was 70% approved. Two Côte-d’Oriennes had applied for the women’s college: Stéphanie Modde and Catherine Hervieu. At 65%, members have retained Stéphanie Modde. The two people proposed to the national office to prepare the regional elections on behalf of EELV are therefore Stéphanie Modde and Pascal Blain.
The purpose of a third vote was to inform the national office of the regional gender preference in order to support the ranking of candidates. Thus, 71% of members wanted to let the party executive know that in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, they would prefer to see a woman run for office. Across France as a whole, with more candidates than female candidates, the probability that this regional preference will be followed is high and therefore that Stéphanie Modde will be in fine retained as leader for the regional elections.
Stéphanie Modde is currently municipal councilor of Dijon, sitting in the opposition as president of the group of Ecologists and citizens which includes six elected EELV, one elected Generation Ecology and one elected from the Independent Ecologist Alliance.
Pascal Blain is an associative activist and longtime Green activist. He chairs the association France Nature Environnement Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. He is vice-president of CESER. Pascal Blain plans to give up his associative mandates for the electoral campaign. A handsome player, Pascal Blain aspires to “co-pilot the regional campaign where environmentalists will help better appropriate the program of political ecology”. Climate and biodiversity issues are essential in his eyes.
Anne Vignot invited to speak
To speak at the end of the vote, the pair was accompanied by Claire Mallard and Cécile Prudhomme as well as the mayor of Besançon, Anne Vignot. Together, they spoke on the issues and on potential partners.
For Stéphanie Modde, seven main issues should guide the development of the program: the economy and employment (in particular “to safeguard and create jobs for the future”), territorial solidarity (in particular to “stop the competition between Dijon and Besançon ”), the ecological transition of agriculture, mobility (in connection with“ access to public services and healthcare ”), the preservation of biodiversity, the prevention of health, nuclear and chemical risks as well as citizen involvement.
“A united ecology is new”
Former allies of the Socialist Party at national level, the Greens have entered a more composite phase since the 2019 European elections. The coalitions have decided on a case-by-case basis for the last municipal elections. In Besançon, Anne Vignot led a rally list with the PS and Génération.s. In Dijon, environmentalists did not find common ground with socialist François Rebsamen (read our article).
According to Anne Vignot, there is now “a major axis which responds to a demand from society for structural transformations”. The situations of Dijon and Besançon do not correspond to “the scale of the region”, in particular on questions of mobility, forest, waste or education.
Pascal Blain wants to turn the page on old alliances and prefers to evoke a “common history”: “Burgundy and Franche-Comté are the same region, we are in the process of writing the history of this region”. “We know that the Socialist Party and the Communist Party used to be faced with a diverse ecology, today it’s a united ecology, it’s new” adds the Bisontine.
Referring to the election to the presidency of the association of elected officials France Urbaine which saw Johanna Rolland, PS mayor of Nantes, block the road to François Rebsamen, Anne Vignot analyzes that “two major tendencies were expressed among the socialists “. “We are not going to deny that there are cities like Nantes or Rennes which are positioning themselves towards interesting transitions” she underlines.
“The regional council is the scale where transitions must be made” launches Anne Vignot, who waits for “the socialists to position themselves in relation to these transitions”. Claire Prudhomme said that the eight departmental secretaries of the PS in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté had written to the regional federation EELV.
Regarding the Modem, according to Stéphanie Modde, “whether in Dijon or elsewhere, the Modem is right-wing”. And to give as an example the candidacy for the legislative elections of 2017 where François Deseille (president of Modem for the Côte-d’Or and deputy mayor of Dijon) was displayed alongside Emmanuel Macron.
All the partners will appoint the head of the list
Stéphanie Modde points out that “the municipal elections have also made it possible to highlight the people who participate in the renewal of political life” before announcing future surprises in the constitution of the lists. If Stéphanie Modde plans to make “a very good score in the first round”, Cécile Prudhomme indicates that the party is open “to discussions in the second round”.
In the agenda, the national office will validate the leaders of each region by the end of October. Departmental assemblies will designate the candidates to constitute lists during January. Once negotiations have been carried out with the signatories of the “call”, by the end of November, all the partners will then designate their head of the list. Right now, for Stéphanie Modde, the first task to accomplish is “work on the program”.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
Stéphanie Modde (archive image)
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