The program of the New Popular Ecologist and Social Union (Nupes), led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, covers 650 measures that would transform France and lead to the VI Republic. They are impregnated with a radical leftism in the economic and social fields, in addition to promoting a constitutional reform to end what they describe as a “presidential monarchy”, the regime established by General Charles de Gaulle in 1958.
Among the members of the leftist alliance, however, there are relevant discrepancies on issues such as the future of nuclear energy, membership in NATO or aid to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion. In these and other controversial issues, the program itself refers to the final decision to be taken, by majority, in the National Assembly.
Among the main points of the economic and social offer of Nupes to the voters is the promise of blocking the prices of basic necessities and energy, as well as the increase in the minimum wage to 1,500 euros net per month. They want to establish, by law, that the highest salary in a company cannot be more than twenty times higher than the lowest. Therefore, if the top executives raise their compensation, they will have to raise it proportionally to the more modest employees.
Faced with Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age to 65, Mélenchon wants it to be 60 for people who have contributed for 40 years. As for work schedules, he wants to move towards a 32-hour workweek and limit work on Sundays as much as possible.
The economic program includes the reinstatement of the wealth tax, which was eliminated by Macron as soon as he arrived at the Elysee in 2017. They also want to annul the “tax gifts” made to companies over the last ten years and establish a tax on financial transactions. Regarding inheritances, the objective is to increase the inheritance tax for large estates and limit the total amount of an inheritance to 12 million euros.
In the area of ??ecological policy, a decontamination plan will be launched for the French Mediterranean coast and the Atlantic and North Sea coastlines, as well as the Pacific and Indian coasts of the French overseas territories located in those oceans. There is an intention to comprehensively renovate the railway lines and reopen lines and stations that have been closed in the last thirty years. Another very ambitious goal is to prohibit the planned obsolescence of household appliances and lengthen the duration of the legal guarantee of products. The aim is to put an end to intensive industrial farms as much as possible and favor agriculture and livestock that are respectful of the environment.
Among the institutional reforms, the citizen initiative referendum will be established, one of the demands of the yellow vests, and the vote at 16 years of age. A new constitution must end the “presidential monarchy” and establish more parliamentary controls and limitations on the powers of the head of state. A proportional electoral system will be introduced so that representation in the National Assembly better corresponds to the real weight of the parties.
In international politics, the liberal and productivist policies of the European Union are questioned. A left-wing French government will promote a more ecological, democratic and supportive vision. While the president enjoys a lot of autonomy to direct French foreign policy, Mélenchon’s coalition wants to influence issues such as NATO, the Sahel war and the Ukraine war. Mélenchon’s party, La France Insumisa (LFI) will propose France’s immediate withdrawal from NATO’s integrated command, a first step towards total withdrawal from the Alliance. The Communist Party also advocates leaving the integrated structure and later dissolving NATO, which would be replaced by “a common space of peace and collective security in Europe.”
The ecologists impose their stamp on international politics with their proposal for a European operational military command and an intensification of the shipment of arms to the Kyiv government. The Socialist Party, for its part, makes it clear that it is in favor of continuing in NATO.
