He took a seat at the back of the café, over a small glass of non-alcoholic beer, looking pensive. In early March, Daniel Cohn-Bendit invited Le Monde to meet him at Le Bouquet, a Parisian bistro on Rue Daguerre, in the 14th arrondissement, where he has been a regular since his "heroic campaign," as he described it, in 2009, for the European elections in 2009. The Green campaign, which he headed with the judge Eva Joly that year, won 16.28% of the vote. A historic result. "Dany the Red," icon of the student revolt of May '68, became "Dany the Green."
Since this epic journey, whenever he "comes down" to Paris, the French-German living in Frankfurt, who defines himself as "neither French nor German" in his book Souvenirs d'un Apatride ("Memoirs of a Stateless Person"), co-written with journalist Marion Van Renterghem and published on March 26, systematically takes up residence in the small eco-friendly hotel, Solar, which adjoins the restaurant.
At apéritif time, an almost spring-like sunshine lit up the room. "Would you like me to chill your beer?" asked the owner, while a Pascal Obispo hit played. Here, everyone knows or recognizes "Dany," even if the years have passed. Retired from the European Parliament since 2014, the former troublemaker from Nanterre University has become a grandfather of almost 80 years old (his birthday is on April 4). "Like it or not, this is the last decade," he said with a sigh, swearing he had no "nostalgia," but the desire to say what he "thinks of 80 years of life."
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