Raphaël Glucksmann, MEP and president of the left-wing Place Publique movement, declared his candidacy as early as September 2023 for the June 2024 European elections. Barring any surprises, he is expected to be nominated in February as head of the Parti Socialiste's (PS, left-wing) list, as in 2019. With projections of around 10% of the vote in the polls, he has recently received the endorsement of Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a former Green MEP, as well as the economist Jacques Attali, both of whom had previously supported Emmanuel Macron. The reshuffle of the French government on Thursday, January 11 – which has already been criticized for its shift to the right – has raised hopes on the left that a window of opportunity will open up ahead of the June 9 elections.

It doesn't matter who's foreign minister when it comes down to it, because Emmanuel Macron alone defines France's foreign policy. And yes, the Macronist party's campaign has begun with the appointment of Gabriel Attal. They will try to set up the Attal-Bardella match, but we won't let them hijack the European election. The stakes of this election are too great to be overshadowed by a PR scheme. The main issue at the European level is not Macron or Le Pen; it's whether the Social Democrats or the European People's Party will come out on top and set the legislative agenda for the next five years. And it's not the same thing to have Delors or Barroso at the helm! We have five months to debate the Europe we want, at a time when, if Europe fails to come into its own, we risk losing everything. Let's not forget that on November 5, the American election could bring Donald Trump to power, which would undermine the European security architecture and leave us all alone...

It's changed me completely! I saw that we could make things happen. On my first day in office, I called for the creation of a special committee on foreign interference, which I then chaired. Even before the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, we dissected the hybrid war being waged against our democracies by Putin's regime, and warned of the immense risks to our nations posed by the indolence and obliviousness of our leaders. This mandate has enabled me to move from defending principles to developing concrete policies. These five years have been marked by major crises, and the European Parliament has found itself at the heart of history. Between 2019 and 2024, the climate catastrophe, the pandemic and the war have thrust Europe into a new era. We are at a time when the European Union must choose between becoming a real political power or sinking into nothingness. This is the battle of my life, and it's being fought now.

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