Le Pen-Bashing Greens Leader Grabs Spotlight in French Turmoil

(Bloomberg) — In French politics, the passionate leader of the Green Party is known as “the other Marine” for her opposition to Marine Le Pen, and she’s now stealing a march on her far-right namesake.

As the messy aftermath of the country’s parliamentary elections unfolds, Marine Tondelier has emerged as an unexpected power player, who could even become a compromise candidate for prime minister. Hailing from Le Pen’s constituency, Tondelier has gained attention as a committed adversary of her nationalist brand of politics.

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While leading the next government of Europe’s second-largest economy is a long shot, one of the architects of the New Popular Front stands a chance at a role in the new administration. She’s a more amenable figure for centrists than politicians from other parties in the left-wing alliance — the surprise winner of the June 7 parliamentary vote.

The 37-year-old has moved from relative obscurity to the center of France’s ongoing political drama. Shuttling between meetings in her characteristic green blazer, Tondelier is playing a key role in the talks to forge a workable government. She has presented herself as a facilitator seeking to find a consensus with the far-left France Unbowed and the Socialists.

“If it was up to the ecologists, we would already have a government,” Tondelier said Friday on BFM TV in response to questions about why the NPF is still unable to designate its own candidate for prime minister.

Her larger allies in the NPF, which won more than twice as many seats as the Greens, have refused to accept each other’s nominations. Her party is not “the blocker in the talks,” she said.

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While remaining vague about her own ambitions and trying to paper over infighting in the NPF — which also includes the French Communists — Tondelier’s attempt to paint a picture of constructive negotiations is starting to wear thin.

Nearly a week after two rounds of voting yielded a hung parliament, none of the three major blocks appear close to a compromise that could result in a government. President Emmanuel Macron has mostly remained in the background after his electoral gamble plunged the country into gridlock.

The NPF is the biggest group in the National Assembly, but still about 100 seats short of a majority, and the Greens are a relatively small part of that. But Tondelier has gained credibility with a history of tangling with Le Pen, Macron’s government as well as far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon.

The Green politician comes from Henin-Beaumont, the northern stronghold from which Le Pen and her National Rally have made inroads across France in recent years. She’s made thwarting the far-right party her mission since entering politics 15 years ago.

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Tondelier challenged Le Pen in her home district in legislative elections in 2012, 2017 and 2022, losing miserably in the first two ballots but getting 39% in 2022 in a head-to-head contest thanks to a coalition with the left.

In a 2022 interview in Le Point, Tondelier called the National Rally a “party of vultures,” accusing Le Pen’s movement of creating a climate of fear and hatred in Henin-Beaumont against the opposition, media, unions and associations, something she recounted in her 2017 book.

But she’s also been critical of Melenchon for running for a seat n Henin-Beaumont in 2012 without previous connections to the area. He lost in the first round, well behind Le Pen. She has since called the far-left leader “divisive.”

In this year’s snap election, Tondelier gained attention for an emotional outburst in a live interview on France Inter radio between the two rounds of voting. Struggling to choke back tears, she called Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire “weak and privileged” for what she saw as a half-hearted effort to counter the National Rally.

One flash point for Tondelier during this campaign was the National Rally’s refusal to participate in a scheduled TV debate with her and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. She slammed the move as a snub to all women and said she had wanted to take on the far-right party’s leader Jordan Bardella face to face.

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Her surge in prominence has helped her gain double-digit percentage points in approval ratings, the most of 33 politicians. But she ranked 22nd — well behind Francois Hollande, the former president from the Socialists, according to an Elabe poll for Les Echos published on Thursday.

“She became much better known during the election, which she wasn’t before,” said Elabe President Bernard Sananes. “She has the reputation among left supporters as the one who brought the left together.”

The daughter of a physician and a dentist from Henin-Beaumont, a town near the Belgian border which has a far-right mayor alongside Le Pen as its representative in the National Assembly. Tondelier has said that she has seen first hand the risks posed by the National Rally’s policies.

Known for her directness, she has defended the NPF’s solidarity and pushed back against allegations by Macron and Le Pen that the left-wing alliance’s economic platform is “dangerous.” In addition to rolling back pension reform and raising taxes, the alliance wants to significantly increase the minumum wage.

“I don’t accept that because we are environmentalists we don’t know what we are talking about on the economy,” Tondelier told BFM TV.

Parts of the leftist manifesto take direct inspiration from the Greens such as a halt to all new highway projects. But it skirts nuclear energy, which is backed by Macron and other alliance members. Tondelier in turn calls France’s showcase atomic reactor a “financial fiasco.”

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