Spotlight on the left. One week before the primary of the socialist pole, the five candidates in the running debated, Thursday October 1, on France 2 and France Inter. Two hours of often lively, sometimes tense exchanges, such as on the theme of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, or that of the relationship to La France insoumise, subjects of anticipated discord between Olivier Faure, Raphaël Glucksmann, Jérôme Guedj, Emmanuel Maurel and Ségolène Royal. Eight days before the first round of voting, everyone tried to defend their positions to attract voters for the start of this final stretch. Franceinfo returns to this highlight of the socialist pole primary in seven video sequences.
1 On the anger of high school students
No less than 400 schools will be closed on Friday and 170 students have been injured since Monday, according to the report drawn up a few minutes before the debate by the Minister of National Education Edouard Geffray. On this subject, several candidates in the primary refused to expand on the role of La France insoumise and to attack Jean-Luc Mélenchon's party head-on, as does the government and the right, who accuse him of exploiting this movement and encouraging its excesses.
“I am not here to comment on LFI, they are harming the movement, but we are not going to spend our evening talking about LFI,” said Olivier Faure, for whom “it is time to become aware of what high school students are going through.” “I judge them to be totally irresponsible, but here, the subject is school, it is the future of children, it is not LFI,” said Raphaël Glucksmann, who nevertheless criticizes the rebels very regularly. Ségolène Royal and Emmanuel Maurel did not address the subject and only Jérôme Guedj insisted on the rebellious elected officials "who play with fire and deflect the sincere fight that these young people are led to carry".
2 On the fuel crisis
The primary candidates do not all agree on how to help the French facing the surge in fuel prices, particularly visible since the start of the school year. In this regard, Raphaël Glucksmann and Ségolène Royal exposed their deep disagreement on the system to choose to respond to this crisis. The leader of Public Place believes that general aid "will help in an undifferentiated manner those who need it and those who do not need it" in terms of transport, while the former presidential candidate advocates "simple and immediate measures".
According to Ségolène Royal, joined by Jérôme Guedj in the desire to temporarily lower VAT on fuel, "we must not enter into a consumer police" by specifically targeting certain categories of the population, such as "heavy riders". “A policy that does not target is what causes the debt to explode, without helping the most vulnerable,” replied Raphaël Glucksmann.
3 On purchasing power
Raphaël Glucksmann is in favor of reducing the general social contribution (CSG) to increase wages and restore purchasing power to the French. His opponents in this campaign opposed this "dangerous" measure, according to Ségolène Royal, because "if we transfer [what is currently financed by the CSG] to the state budget, the state will say that it will use its money to do something other than social protection." “What you are doing is overcoming the difficulty, it could be a very provisional measure, but it cannot be a measure that you propose when you are a presidential candidate, for five years,” continued Olivier Faure. Emmanuel Maurel denounced “a gas factory”. “It will restore purchasing power directly to workers,” insisted Raphaël Glucksmann.
4 On the Jordan Bardella affair
Questioned about the anti-Semitic remarks attributed to Jordan Bardella when he was a young RN activist, according to revelations from Mediapart, all the candidates attacked the party boss with a flame. “He is totally disqualified,” began Olivier Faure. These comments, which Jordan Bardella denies having made, "should not surprise anyone", according to Emmanuel Maurel. For his part, Raphaël Glucksmann regretted the "temptation among the elites to believe in this trivialization" of the party founded in the 1970s by small far-right groups, while Jérôme Guedj considers that "the de-demonization of the DNA" of the RN, formerly the FN, "should not fool anyone." “How could this deception last so long?” asked Ségolène Royal, in favor of the far-right leader resigning from his mandate as MEP.
5 On the war in Ukraine
Within the collection of candidates who debated on France 2 and France Inter, Ségolène Royal stood out from her competitors by proposing to relaunch the dialogue with Vladimir Putin, four and a half years after the start of the war in Ukraine. “This war must stop,” she defended, highlighting the “rampant inflation” which followed, in particular. But the other candidates do not agree, starting with Raphaël Glucksmann, who has made aid to the Ukrainian resistance a hobby horse. “Vladimir Putin, for the moment, does not want to negotiate,” replied Emmanuel Maurel. “There are Munich peacekeepers who are preparing even more terrible wars,” said Jérôme Guedj directly, provoking a reproachful pout from his rival.
6 On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
On the international side, the question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not to be part of the updated program of the program, due to busy current affairs, but Olivier Faure insisted on returning to this subject. Very quickly, the discussions focused on the use or not of the word "genocide" to describe the crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip. In the eyes of Jérôme Guedj, who recalled his long-standing fight for the Palestinians, "the use of this word genocide contributes to the 'nazification' of the State of Israel and makes the principle, for some, of its disappearance morally acceptable."
“I don’t believe that Pedro Sanchez [the Spanish Prime Minister] can be accused in the way Jérôme [Guedj] has just done,” replied Olivier Faure, who does not see “why we don’t use the right words.” The tone then rose between the first secretary of the Socialist Party and the president of Place publique. “Your fight,” said Raphaël Glucksmann, “is to make us use a word that is not used by the International Criminal Court. I am going to speak and you are going to listen to me.
7 On the relationship to La France insoumise
Another anticipated bone of contention, the question of alliances on the left, and mainly with La France insoumise, allies of the socialists within the Nupes (2022) and the New Popular Front (2024). Unsurprisingly, Raphaël Glucksmann advocated a break with Jean-Luc Mélenchon's movement: "Our two doctrines are not compatible. If we are allied with LFI in one way or another, we will lose to the extreme right." “I find it difficult to understand why in every debate between us, the winner in absentia is Jean-Luc Mélenchon,” replied Olivier Faure, between irony and weariness.
On this subject, the first secretary of the PS faced heavy fire from Raphaël Glucksman and Jérôme Guedj, on the same anti-LFI line. “You are inhabited by the spirit of defeat,” said the first to his PS counterpart. “I have a problem with the constant belly dancing that you do in front of LFI,” insisted the second. “It’s shameful what you’re doing,” said Olivier Faure. Ségolène Royal and Emmanuel Maurel then shared their exasperation at having to comment on their relationship with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and La France insoumise.
