Socialist MPs Olivier Faure and Emmanuel Grégoire during the debate on the social security budget bill for 2026, at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, November 4, 2025. JULIEN MUGUET FOR LE MONDE
Three men had dinner together in Paris on Wednesday, January 14, at a brasserie near La Bellevilloise concert hall, where Emmanuel Grégoire, the Socialist candidate for mayor of Paris, had just launched his campaign. Over drinks, Socialist MP Boris Vallaud and two members of the allied Place Publique party, MP Aurélien Rousseau and MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, discussed the history of the French left. They reflected on Michel Rocard, Léon Blum, Guy Mollet and the unity of the Socialists.
But the real topic at hand was the 2027 presidential election. Rousseau and Glucksmann tried to convince Vallaud that organizing a left-wing primary, as proposed by Socialist leader Olivier Faure, makes no sense. They argued it would be better to back the best-placed candidate on the left for now: Glucksmann, who is neck-and-neck with the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the polls.
May 2025
Subscribers only
