Greens (France)
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The Greens (french: link=no, Les Verts, ; VEC or LV) was a
centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...
to
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...
-
ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
political party in France This article contains a list of political parties in France. France has a multi-party political system: one in which the number of competing political parties is sufficiently large as to make it almost inevitable that in order to participate in ...
. The Greens had been in existence since 1984, but their spiritual roots could be traced as far back as René Dumont's candidacy for the presidency in 1974. On 13 November 2010, The Greens merged with Europe Ecology to become
Europe Ecology – The Greens Europe Ecology – The Greens (french: Europe Écologie Les Verts , EELV ) is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of the European Green Party. The party was formed on 13 November 2010 from the merge ...
.


History


Early years

Since 1974, the environmentalist movement has been a permanent feature of the French political scene, contesting every election: municipal, national & European. In the years following Dumont's challenge for the presidency, and prior to the formal confirmation of les Verts as political party, environmentalists contested elections under such banners as ''Ecology 78'', ''Ecology Europe'' and ''Ecology Today''. When, in 1982, ''the Ecologist Party'' merged with ''the Ecologist Confederation'', les Verts were born. Under the ideological guidance of
Antoine Waechter Antoine Waechter (born 11 February 1949) is a French politician, leader of the Independent Ecological Movement. Early activism Antoine Waechter was born on 11 February 1949 in Mulhouse, (Haut-Rhin). He began activism early, and by 1965 had fo ...
, the party in 1986 signalled a break with the traditional divide in French politics, declaring that environmental politics could not be "married" to either the left or the right (which gave rise to its famous slogan "ni droite, ni gauche" – "neither right, nor left"). Antoine Waechter ran in the 1988 presidential elections, capturing 1,150,000 ballots (or 3.8%) in the first round of voting. But the major breakthrough came the following year when – again under the leadership of Waechter – the Greens polled 10.6% in the European parliamentary elections. However, the party faced with another ecologist party:
Ecology Generation Ecology Generation (french: Génération écologie) is one of the four green parties in France, along with Europe Ecology – The Greens (), the Independent Ecological Movement (), and Cap Écologie. Founded in 1990 by Brice Lalonde, Environmen ...
led by Brice Lalonde, environment minister of President François Mitterrand and allied with the
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
(PS). In this, if the ecologist parties benefited from the electoral decline of the PS in the beginning of the 1990s, the Greens competed for the leadership of the French ecologist movement. In the 1992 regional elections, the Greens obtained 6.8% of votes and the presidency of
Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais ...
region. The next year, it scored 4.1% in the legislative election while all of the ecologist votes represented 11%. But, without political allies in the second round, they failed to gain a parliamentary seat.


Participation in government

Waechter's influence was called into question in 1994 when the Greens decided to break with his policy of non-alignment, instead deciding to adopt a markedly left-wing stance. The move prompted Waechter to leave the Greens. He went on to found the
Independent Ecological Movement The Independent Ecological Movement (french: Mouvement écologiste indépendant) is a political party in France founded by Antoine Waechter, former presidential candidate of The Greens in 1994. The MEI hoped to replace the Greens as the major gr ...
. In the following presidential election of 1995,
Dominique Voynet Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958) is a French politician who is a member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. She is the former mayor of Montreuil and was a French senator for the ''département'' of Seine-Saint-Denis. Life Dominique Voy ...
polled a modest 3.8% but, in due to the marginalisation of
Ecology Generation Ecology Generation (french: Génération écologie) is one of the four green parties in France, along with Europe Ecology – The Greens (), the Independent Ecological Movement (), and Cap Écologie. Founded in 1990 by Brice Lalonde, Environmen ...
, the Greens captured the leadership into the family of the French political ecology. Component of
Plural Left The Gauche Plurielle (French for ''Plural Left'') was a left-wing coalition in France, composed of the Socialist Party (''Parti socialiste'' or PS), the French Communist Party (''Parti communiste français'' or PCF), the Greens, the Left Radi ...
coalition, the Greens obtained for the first time a parliamentary representation in
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
.
Dominique Voynet Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958) is a French politician who is a member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. She is the former mayor of Montreuil and was a French senator for the ''département'' of Seine-Saint-Denis. Life Dominique Voy ...
was to lead the party into government for the first time, joining
Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...
's
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
(PS) and the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
(PCF). Voynet was rewarded with the cabinet position of Minister for the Environment and Regional Planning, before being replaced by
Yves Cochet Yves Cochet (; born 15 February 1946) is a French politician, member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. He was minister in the government of Lionel Jospin. On 6 December 2011, he was elected member of the European Parliament (MEP). He studied M ...
in 2001.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit (; ; born 4 April 1945) is a French-German politician of Jewish descent. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and was also known during that time as ''Dany le Rouge'' (French for "Danny the Red" ...
(or "Danny the Red"), a leader of the 1968 student uprising, spearheaded the party's 1999 European campaign, obtaining 9.7% of votes cast, enough to return seven deputies to Strasbourg.
Alain Lipietz Alain Lipietz (born September 19, 1947 as Alain Guy Lipiec) is a French engineer, economist and politician, a former Member of the European Parliament, and a member of the French Green Party. He has, however, been suspended from the party si ...
was first selected to represent the Greens in the 2002 presidential elections but his public outings proved awkward and he was soon replaced by
Noël Mamère Noël Mamère (born 25 December 1948 in Libourne, Gironde) is a French journalist and politician. He was the mayor of Bègles in Gironde as well as deputy to the French National Assembly for that constituency. He was for several years a member ...
who had initially lost the primary elections. Mamère's 5.25% represents the strongest Green challenge for the presidency to date. However, the legislative elections were a major disappointment: with just 4.51% of votes cast nationally, the Greens’ representation fell from six to just three deputies (out of a total of 577) in the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
.


The Greens today

Following the return to opposition benches in 2002, Gilles Lemaire assumed the position of national secretary. His tenure is marked by a period of internal strife in the party. Lemaire was in turn replaced by Yann Wehrling, who seemingly united a majority of the membership under a text outlining the future direction that the party hoped to pursue. He was succeeded by Cécile Duflot in 2006, who was the party's youngest National Secretary at the age of 31. She announced her resignation in May 2012 after being appointed to the new cabinet appointed by President François Hollande. Les Verts had six MEPs elected in the 2004 European Election with 8.43% of the vote. In the hugely divisive 2005 referendum on the
European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...
, the Greens campaigned for a Yes vote. In the 2007 French presidential election, les Verts nominated
Dominique Voynet Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958) is a French politician who is a member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. She is the former mayor of Montreuil and was a French senator for the ''département'' of Seine-Saint-Denis. Life Dominique Voy ...
. Her low score of 1.57% in the first round was the party's worst electoral result, and the French ecologist's worst showing since René Dumont in the 1974. The party refused an electoral deal with the
Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
for the June legislative election. However, the three Green incumbents,
Noël Mamère Noël Mamère (born 25 December 1948 in Libourne, Gironde) is a French journalist and politician. He was the mayor of Bègles in Gironde as well as deputy to the French National Assembly for that constituency. He was for several years a member ...
,
Yves Cochet Yves Cochet (; born 15 February 1946) is a French politician, member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. He was minister in the government of Lionel Jospin. On 6 December 2011, he was elected member of the European Parliament (MEP). He studied M ...
, and Martine Billard had no PS opposition in their respective constituencies. While the Green's vote share was down from 2002, it won a fourth seat in Nantes where
François de Rugy François Henri Goullet de Rugy (; born 6 December 1973) is a French politician who served as President of the National Assembly from 2017 to 2018 and Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition from 2018 to 2019. Since 2007, he has repres ...
defeated a conservative UMP incumbent. The Greens now had four seats in the Assembly and sat with the PCF in the Democratic and Republican Left group. In the 2009 European Parliament election, the party was an integral part of the
Europe Écologie Europe Ecology (french: Europe Écologie) was a green electoral coalition of political parties in France created for the 2009 European elections composed of The Greens and other ecologists and regionalists. For the European Parliament election i ...
coalition, led by
Daniel Cohn-Bendit Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit (; ; born 4 April 1945) is a French-German politician of Jewish descent. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and was also known during that time as ''Dany le Rouge'' (French for "Danny the Red" ...
, which gained 8 seats for a total of 14 on a 16.3% of the vote. Since November 2010, it merged with the coalition to become
Europe Ecology – The Greens Europe Ecology – The Greens (french: Europe Écologie Les Verts , EELV ) is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of the European Green Party. The party was formed on 13 November 2010 from the merge ...
.


The Skandrani Affair

One of the party's co-founders, Ginette Skandrani, had long attracted criticism due to her involvement with
Holocaust deniers Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...
. Auffray, Alain,
Une verte trop brune exclue du parti
'', ''Libération'', 2 June 2006– hosted o
http://www.pdpinfo.org/
/ref> The Stephen Roth Institute criticized the Green Party in 2004, calling its record "tainted by abortive attempts to expel from within its ranks notorious anti-Jewish activist Ginette Skandrani herself ethnically Jewish Audio file recorded by Skandrani, hosted o
www.proche-orient.info
/ref> who has close contacts with Holocaust deniers."Anonymous,

", ''Steven Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism.'' 2004.
Other critics, such as Roger Cukierman of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions did not attack the party as a whole, but rather its anti-Zionist wing, claiming that it promoted a " brown-green alliance". In June 2005, the Greens voted to permanently expel Skandrani. Among the reasons for her definitive expulsion were her participation in the holocaust-denial website '' AAARGH'' (Association des anciens amateurs de récits de guerres et d'holocaustes). Patrick Farbiaz, a Green leader involved in her expulsion, argued that "although she has not written nti-Semitic textsherself, she looks like a kingpen of holocaust deniers and avowed antisemites". The party had previously expelled another co-founder (in 1991), Jean Brière, for signing a text addressing the alleged "war-causing role" of Israel and "the
zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
lobby in the
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
."


Call to lift sanctions against Cypriot Turks

Green MEP Helene Flautre has attracted controversy by calling for the lifting of sanctions against Turkish Cypriots imposed by the United Nations.


Youth wing

The youth branch of the Greens, founded in Strasbourg in 2001, is called ''Les Jeunes Verts – la Souris verte'' (Young Greens – the Green mouse). It has been part of the Federation of Young European Greens since 2006.


Factions

Most internal divisions within the party concern the party's political position (neither right nor left, or left-wing) and electoral strategy (alliance with the PS or the far-left parties). * Neo-Waechterians (
environmentalists An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
,
social liberals Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...
,
centrists Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...
): Followers of former Green leader
Antoine Waechter Antoine Waechter (born 11 February 1949) is a French politician, leader of the Independent Ecological Movement. Early activism Antoine Waechter was born on 11 February 1949 in Mulhouse, (Haut-Rhin). He began activism early, and by 1965 had fo ...
, a large part has joined the
Independent Ecological Movement The Independent Ecological Movement (french: Mouvement écologiste indépendant) is a political party in France founded by Antoine Waechter, former presidential candidate of The Greens in 1994. The MEI hoped to replace the Greens as the major gr ...
or, more recently, the
MoDem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
( Jean-Luc Bennahmias, Yann Wehrling) *Green left (
eco-socialists Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism or socialist ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or Anti-globalization movement, anti-globalization. Eco-socialists gener ...
,
democratic socialists Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...
,
Maoists Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...
): Including members such as
Jean Desessard Jean Desessard (born 6 September 1952) is a French politician and a former member of the Senate (France), Senate of France from 2004 to 2017. He represented Paris and is a member of Europe Ecology – The Greens. ReferencesPage on the Senate we ...
, Yves Contassot and, until recently, Martine Billard The party's final leadership, led by Cécile Duflot, and including
Dominique Voynet Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958) is a French politician who is a member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. She is the former mayor of Montreuil and was a French senator for the ''département'' of Seine-Saint-Denis. Life Dominique Voy ...
,
Yves Cochet Yves Cochet (; born 15 February 1946) is a French politician, member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. He was minister in the government of Lionel Jospin. On 6 December 2011, he was elected member of the European Parliament (MEP). He studied M ...
and
Noël Mamère Noël Mamère (born 25 December 1948 in Libourne, Gironde) is a French journalist and politician. He was the mayor of Bègles in Gironde as well as deputy to the French National Assembly for that constituency. He was for several years a member ...
were positioned between the two aforementioned factions.


Elected officials

*Deputies:
Yves Cochet Yves Cochet (; born 15 February 1946) is a French politician, member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. He was minister in the government of Lionel Jospin. On 6 December 2011, he was elected member of the European Parliament (MEP). He studied M ...
,
Noël Mamère Noël Mamère (born 25 December 1948 in Libourne, Gironde) is a French journalist and politician. He was the mayor of Bègles in Gironde as well as deputy to the French National Assembly for that constituency. He was for several years a member ...
,
François de Rugy François Henri Goullet de Rugy (; born 6 December 1973) is a French politician who served as President of the National Assembly from 2017 to 2018 and Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition from 2018 to 2019. Since 2007, he has repres ...
( GDR Group). Martine Billard, elected as a Green in 2007 joined the Left Party in July 2009. *Senators: Marie-Christine Blandin, Alima Boumediene-Thiery,
Jean Desessard Jean Desessard (born 6 September 1952) is a French politician and a former member of the Senate (France), Senate of France from 2004 to 2017. He represented Paris and is a member of Europe Ecology – The Greens. ReferencesPage on the Senate we ...
, Jacques Muller,
Dominique Voynet Dominique Voynet (born 4 November 1958) is a French politician who is a member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. She is the former mayor of Montreuil and was a French senator for the ''département'' of Seine-Saint-Denis. Life Dominique Voy ...
(
Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
Group). *MEPs: Malika Benarab-Attou, Pascal Canfin,
Daniel Cohn-Bendit Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit (; ; born 4 April 1945) is a French-German politician of Jewish descent. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and was also known during that time as ''Dany le Rouge'' (French for "Danny the Red" ...
,
Karima Delli Karima Delli (born 4 March 1979 in Roubaix, Nord) is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament elected in the 2009 European election, 2014 European elections and in the 2019 European elections for the Île-de-France constitue ...
, Hélène Flautre, Catherine Grèze,
Nicole Kiil-Nielsen Nicole Kiil-Nielsen (born 21 August 1949, in Larchamp) is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament elected in the 2009 European election for the West France constituency. She is a member of The Greens. She has been a feminis ...
, Michèle Rivasi (6 of the 14 MEPs from
Europe Écologie Europe Ecology (french: Europe Écologie) was a green electoral coalition of political parties in France created for the 2009 European elections composed of The Greens and other ecologists and regionalists. For the European Parliament election i ...
are not members of the party). The Greens held 41 town halls, the largest city being Montreuil (
Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobig ...
). Other cities held by the Greens include
Wattwiller Wattwiller ( gsw, Wǎttwillr; ger, Wattweiler) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department of the Grand Est region, which lies in the north-eastern part of France. Located near the Vosges mountain rocky spur of Hartmannswillerkopf, Wattwiller ...
,
Bègles Bègles (; Gascon: ''Begla'') is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France. It is a suburb of the city of Bordeaux and is adjacent to it on the south. Bègles station has rail connections to Langon and Bordeaux. Population ...
and
Mèze Mèze (; oc, Mesa; phn, Mansa) is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Mézois''. Geography Situated on the étang de Thau, Mèze shares with Bouzigues its historic role as the oyster capital ...
. The party also claims 168 regional councillors and 14 general councillors (plus 9 Parisian councillors).


Popular support and electoral record

The Greens were strong electorally in urban areas, specifically in the Greater Paris area,
Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
and western France, parts of the
Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône ...
region and
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
. In the 2009 European elections, the Greens won their best result outside of Corsica, where their result was due to the support of the
Party of the Corsican Nation The Party of the Corsican Nation ( co, Partitu di a Nazione Corsa, PNC) is a Corsican nationalist and autonomist political party on the French island of Corsica. It was founded in Corte in 2002 by members of three nationalist parties, Union of the ...
(PNC), in the city of Paris (27.41%),
Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Ann ...
(20.26%),
Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.
(21.75%), Isère (21.64%), Hauts-de-Seine (20.74%),
Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.
(20.59%), and Loire-Atlantique (20.16%). It also did very well in large, wealthy urban centres such as Rennes or
Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
. It does more poorly in rural areas, notably areas where its rival, CPNT, is strong. It also did poorly in industrial or poorer urban areas; for example it won only 9.33% in the Pas-de-Calais, a department formerly dominated by coal mining, in 2009.


Presidential


Legislative


European Parliament


See also

*
European Federation of Green Parties European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...
*
List of environmental organizations An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environmen ...


References


External links


Official site


{{DEFAULTSORT:Greens Party France Defunct green political parties Green political parties in France Left-wing parties in France Political parties established in 1982 Political parties disestablished in 2010 European Green Party Political parties of the French Fifth Republic 1982 establishments in France