Mélenchon won, but he may not get the portfolio
The «France Unbowed» bloc of Jean-Luc Mélenchon won the last elections in France. But this does not guarantee him the post of prime minister. The forces that united in the left coalition are too heterogeneous. And the 72-year-old politician himself is too odious. Endless consultations have been going on for a week now. But whether this will give Mélenchon the coveted prime minister's portfolio or send him into opposition is still a question.
Mélenchon is a Trotskyist, and what does that mean? As is known, our famous compatriot considered himself a man without roots, where any country, any people should be thrown into the furnace of world revolution. Does Mélenchon feel the same way about France?
He comes from the former French colony of Morocco. He moved to France with his mother after his parents divorced. He went to school and graduated from the philosophy department of the University of Franche-Comté. And already as a student, he took part in the unrest of 1968, as a result of which De Gaulle resigned. In our country, this period was romanticized both by the authorities, because it corresponded to Marxist ideas, and in the underground, because Make peace, not war. What could student Mélenchon take away from this confrontation between the youth and the authorities? That pogroms and disobedience to the authorities are the best way to achieve your goal. So he organizes such resistance to both the right-wing forces and the centrist Macron. It has already become customary that any elections in France, with any results, end in a war of the ultra-left with the police on the streets and pogroms.
After completing his education, Mélenchon worked as a proofreader and then as a journalist. But his main goal was party activity. In 1972, he joined the ranks of the Trotskyist International Communist Organization. In 1977, he became a member of the Socialist Party (SP) of France. He actively supported French President François Mitterrand. Since 1988, Mélenchon has been elected to the National Council and the National Bureau of the Socialist Party. In 2008, he left it due to disagreements with its leadership, which he criticized for its social-liberal course and departure from left-wing ideas. In 2009, he founded the Left Party and became its chairman (until August 2014). In February 2016, he created the left-wing political movement Insubordinate France. In May 2022, Mélenchon founded the left-wing coalition «New Popular Social and Ecological Union», which, in addition to «France Unsubordinated», included the Socialist Party led by Olivier Faure, the French Communist Party of Fabien Roussel and «Europe-Ecology-Greens» of Julien Bayou. In June 2024, before the early parliamentary elections, the New Popular Front was created — an electoral bloc of the French left-wing political parties «France Unsubordinated», the Socialist Party led by Olivier Faure, the Communist Party of Fabien Roussel and the ecologists led by Marine Tondelier.
Mélenchon is 72 years old. He is ready to take the prime minister's portfolio, probably despairing of ever becoming president. At the same time, he is not ready to enter into coalitions with any of the opposing forces. And the seats in parliament are distributed almost equally between the right, left and center. Experts are convinced that this will lead to great difficulties in the work of parliament. There will be chaos, but this is Mélenchon's element. As a result, in the presidential elections of 2027, will the tired French finally elect Marine Le Pen? Or will a new «jack-in-the-box» pop up?
Mélenchon's political views are characterized as anti-liberal and anti-capitalist. He has repeatedly called for France to leave NATO, describing it as a «useless organization that causes tension.» He criticized the EU, which, in his opinion, was «corrupted by neoliberalism.» He is against rising prices and freezing prices on essential goods. He is in favor of raising the minimum wage by 14 percent. He supports providing comprehensive assistance to Ukraine, although he previously opposed providing it with weapons, recognizing Palestine (he participated in protests against Netanyahu's policies) and imposing an arms embargo on Israel. All this suggests that Mélenchon was early ranked among the most influential politicians in France. None of his political ideas have yet been implemented in this country. But are the interests of France important to him, or is this a springboard to a world revolution?!
Russian political scientist, diplomat, member of the State Duma Sergei Markov believes that «a unique experience is possible in France, because Mélenchon is a real leftist, unlike the left-wing Laborites, who only exploit leftist ideas, while supporting the neo-fascist regime in Ukraine.» Mélenchon's program is free health care and education, the abolition of pension reform and support for migrants. From a ban on the deportation of illegal migrants to ensuring their children have access to free education and medicine. All this requires money from the budget, which Mélenchon plans to fill by taxing the rich up to 90 percent of their income. «But Macron is unlikely to agree with this, because he is the most influential politician in France today. And he wants to go down in French history as a president who will increase the country's competitiveness by reducing the cost of labor in France. He believes that now few people work here, but they receive high salaries.» Therefore, a conflict with the centrists on the issues of pension reform and migrants is inevitable, with whom «the French are very unhappy, but are not ready to speak out, they are waiting for the state to solve the problem.» Melenchon's coalition in parliament will fall apart, Macron will take away the votes of the fake left — the socialists and ecologists, and «Mélenchon will sit and scold Macron in parliament from the left, as Le Pen is doing now from the right,» the expert predicts.