"The people of Nice deserve a left-wing mayor": Socialist Party Secretary General Pierre Jouvet campaigns in Nice

Pierre Jouvet, MEP and Secretary General of the Socialist Party, was in Nice on Friday as part of the campaign for the internal elections on June 5. Speaking to members of the Alpes-Maritimes region, he defended the position of Olivier Faure, the current First Secretary, who is running for re-election, against Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, Mayor of Rouen, and Boris Vallaud, President of the Socialist Party group in the National Assembly.

What does the guidance text you are carrying contain?

We are proposing a clear strategy for the presidential election, which is to build a platform that unites everyone from François Ruffin to Raphaël Glucksmann. If the left isn't united, it can't make it to the second round, and the President of the Republic will be Marine Le Pen. After 10 years of Macronism, which will have fractured the country, the Republican barrier will not be repeated. And the useful vote for Édouard Philippe or Gabriel Attal won't work. Our responsibility is to prevent the far right from coming to power and to propose an alternative project.

After the implosion of the New Popular Front, is the union of the left still credible?

In the past, we've had electoral alliances that worked. But since October 7 and the Hamas terrorist attacks, we've had a values ​​problem that means we can't form an alliance with Jean-Luc Mélenchon's La France Insoumise for the next presidential election. Our responsibility is to bring together the rest of the non-Mélenchonist left and put forward a strong, transformative political project. The Socialist Party congress [which will take place from June 13 to 15 in Nancy] is part of a timeframe, with a central issue, which is the preparation for the municipal elections. We've already involved more than 300 leaders in the territories being reclaimed, as is the case with Patrick Allemand, here in Nice.

What is the PS's strategy for this deadline?

The strategy we are pursuing is to look at the electoral reality, the implementation, and the embodiment of the situation territory by territory. I have no difficulty in saying that in some cities we will have to align ourselves with an environmentalist or a communist, but that in others, we must have reciprocity.

What message do you want to send to the people of Nice with this upcoming duel between Christian Estrosi and Eric Ciotti?

You have here what is the pinnacle of the confrontation between the extreme right and the far right. We are not going to be spectators to this, to divide ourselves and reproduce the same effects as in 2020. I urge everyone to be responsible and to understand what is happening. France's 5th largest city is not, in terms of political transformations, on par with the rest of France's major metropolises. There are shifts that have not been taken, on the issue of ecological transition, greening policies, housing, and solidarity. The left must be able to bring about and propose change. We must move towards effective voting, meaningful voting. Nice deserves a left-wing mayor.