Raphaël Glucksmann, the Socialists' lead candidate in the recent European elections, on Monday, June 10, put forward the name of a former trade unionist as a potential prime minister in a proposal intended to unite the left for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Glucksmann, who came in third in the European vote with a score of 13.83%, suggested Laurent Berger, the former head of the moderate CFDT union, as a "responsible" figure who would make a good prime minister if the left were to win a majority of seats in the Assemblée Nationale.
French parties were scrambling to prepare for elections that will be held in less than three weeks after President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the Assemblée on Sunday night, following his coalition's defeat in the European elections. The divided left began talks on Monday to explore possible alliances ahead of nominating candidates.
Glucksmann, in an interview on the evening news show of broadcaster France 2, declared the left "needs a clear course" for the parliamentary elections. Asked about which figure could embody the left's potential prime minister if they were to obtain a majority in the Assemblée Nationale, he said: "I have an idea, and it clearly won't be Jean-Luc Mélenchon [the leader of the radical left La France Insoumise]. I think there's a figure from civil society who's capable of bringing about calm (...). I'm thinking of Laurent Berger, who embodied the fight against the pension reform, who was just as responsible as the irresponsibility of our current president."
Berger, as head one of France's biggest unions, was a key figure in the widespread protests in 2023 of the overhaul of the pensions system that Macron implemented at the start of his second term. For months, regular strikes and well-attended protests slowed down the country. The reform was eventually adopted using a constitutional tool allowing the government to bypass a vote in the Assemblée Nationale.
Glucksmann listed five conditions he said were necessary to be involved in a new alliance with other parties: "Unwavering support for European integration, unwavering support for Ukrainian resistance, rejection or repeal of pension reform, unemployment insurance and the immigration law, acceleration of the environmental transition, and rejection of the brutalization of political life. If these conditions are not met, we won't form [an alliance]."
"Our mission now is for the RN to lose," said Glucksmann. "I'm going to take up my pilgrim's staff and support all the candidates opposing the RN who have adhered to these five principles, which are the five basic points of respect for democracy (...) and I'm not doing this to be prime minister," he argued.