Grenoble’s socialist party announced, Friday, November 14, that it is joining the list of unions of environmental activists and leftist citizens led by Laurence Ruffin, appointed as heir to ecologist Eric Piolle who is not running again after two mandates as head of the Alpine city. “This is a historic moment for Grenoble,” convinced with one vote Laurence Ruffin – who is also the sister of Somme deputy François Ruffin – and Amandine Germain, the leader of Grenoble’s socialists.
This is actually a breath of fresh air for Grenoble’s left wing. The socialists remained in opposition, sometimes violent, throughout Eric Piolle’s two mandates. The latter was elected in 2014, then in 2020 as head of the union of Ecologist, La France insoumise, the Communist Party and the citizens’ movement against the socialist candidates who remained in the second round, Jérôme Safar then Olivier Noblecourt.
The unity of ecologists and socialists in the first round of the Grenoble municipal elections was unprecedented and we would have to go back to 2001 to find a joint campaign in the second round, to enable the re-election of the socialist Michel Destot. Quarrels then emerged during Destot’s second term and environmentalists spent his third and final term (2008–2014) in opposition.
Amandine Germain, Isère department councilor and former Destot councillor, admitted: “There needs to be a lot of internal meetings and discussions, such unity would not have been natural just a few months ago.” Laurence Ruffin gave lengthy testimony “journey”, in a “a voluntary, constructive and attentive state of mind”, which makes it possible to achieve it “co-creation of projects”. Germain underlines this: “We had to overcome the differences of the past, and little by little, during these meetings, our natural convergence began to emerge.”
The two women, with knowing smiles, agreed on the definition of their union: “Social, climate, tax justice” in the below section; “change in the way of working with citizens, associations, agents” on methods, around concepts “cooperation” at the center of the project is Laurence Ruffin, former director of Scop. “This union is a collective construction, not a simple electoral agreement”, emphasized Marie Coiffard, secretary of environmental activists Grenoble. Amandine Germain assures us: “We started this joint campaign with great desire and enthusiasm.” Pay respects “travel and quality” by Laurence Ruffin, he gave it to him “trust” : “He is a solid person who knows how to lead, manage and defend a team.”
If Ruffin now counts on the support of nine parties and movements (Les Ecologists, PS, PCF, L’après, l’Ades, Ensemble, Génération⋅s, Grenoble Citizen Network and Animalist Party), he is still far from a left-wing grand slam. Public square, Equinoxe and PRG have their respective candidates, Romain Gentil, just like La France insoumise who appears alone behind Allan Brunon. The departure of the rebels from the green-red-citizen axis created by Eric Piolle, of which they were the pillars, of course greatly facilitated the rallying of the socialists to Laurence Ruffin.
