The Greens (France)

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The Greens (French: Les Verts, IPA:

In the years following Dumont's challenge for the presidency, and prior to the formal confirmation of les Verts as political party, environmentalists contested elections under such banners as Ecology 78, Ecology Europe and Ecology Today. When, in 1982, the Ecologist Party merged with the Ecologist Confederation, les Verts were born. Under the ideological guidance of Antoine Waechter, the party in 1986 signalled a break with the traditional divide in French politics, declaring that environmental politics could not be "married" to either the left or the right (which gave rise to its famous slogan "ni droite, ni gauche" – "neither right, nor left"). Antoine Waechter ran in the 1988 presidential elections, capturing 1,150,000 ballots (or 3.8%) in the first round of voting. But the major breakthrough came the following year when – again under the leadership of Waechter – the Greens polled 10.6% in the European parliamentary elections.

However, the party faced with another ecologist party: Ecology Generation led by Brice Lalonde, environment minister of President François Mitterrand and allied with the Socialist Party (PS). In this, if the ecologist parties benefited from the electoral decline of the PS in the beginning of the 1990s, the Greens competed for the leadership of the French ecologist movement. In the 1992 regional elections, the Greens obtained 6.8% of votes and the presidency of Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. The next year, it scored 4.1% in the legislative election while all of the ecologist votes represented 11%. But, without political allies in the second round, they failed to gain a parliamentary seat.

Participation in government

Waechter's influence was called into question in 1994 when the Greens decided to break with his policy of non-alignment, instead deciding to adopt a markedly left-wing stance. The move prompted Waechter to leave the Greens. He went on to found the Independent Ecological Movement. In the following presidential election of 1995, Dominique Voynet polled a modest 3.8% but, in due to the marginalisation of Ecology Generation, the Greens captured the leadership into the family of the French political ecology.

Component of Plural Left coalition, the Greens obtained for the first time a parliamentary representation in 1997. Dominique Voynet was to lead the party into government for the first time, joining Lionel Jospin's Socialist Party (PS) and the Communist Party (PCF). Voynet was rewarded with the cabinet position of Minister for the Environment and Regional Planning, before being replaced by Yves Cochet in 2001.

Following the return to opposition benches in 2002, Gilles Lemaire assumed the position of national secretary. His tenure is marked by a period of internal strife in the party. Lemaire was in turn replaced by Yann Wehrling, who seemingly united a majority of the membership under a text outlining the future direction that the party hoped to pursue. He was succeeded by Cécile Duflot in 2006, who was the party's youngest National Secretary at the age of 31. She announced her resignation in May 2012 after being appointed to the new cabinet appointed by President François Hollande.

Les Verts had six MEPs elected in the 2004 European Election with 8.43% of the vote.

In the hugely divisive 2005 referendum on the

In the

In the

The Skandrani Affair

One of the party's co-founders, Ginette Skandrani, had long attracted criticism due to her involvement with Holocaust deniers.^[3] The Stephen Roth Institute criticized the Green Party in 2004, calling its record "tainted by abortive attempts to expel from within its ranks notorious anti-Jewish activist Ginette Skandrani herself ethnically Jewish^[4] who has close contacts with Holocaust deniers."^[5]

Other critics, such as

The party had previously expelled another co-founder (in 1991), Jean Brière, for signing a text addressing the alleged "war-causing role" of Israel and "the zionist lobby in the Gulf War."^[3]

Call to lift sanctions against Cypriot Turks

Green MEP

Youth wing

The youth branch of the Greens, founded in Strasbourg in 2001, is called Les Jeunes Verts – la Souris verte (Young Greens – the Green mouse). It has been part of the Federation of Young European Greens since 2006.

Factions

Most internal divisions within the party concern the party's political position (neither right nor left, or left-wing) and electoral strategy (alliance with the PS or the far-left parties).

• Neo-Waechterians (environmentalists, social liberals, centrists): Followers of former Green leader Antoine Waechter, a large part has joined the Independent Ecological Movement or, more recently, the MoDem (Jean-Luc Bennahmias, Yann Wehrling)
• Green left (eco-socialists, democratic socialists, Maoists): Including members such as Jean Desessard, Yves Contassot and, until recently, Martine Billard

The party's final leadership, led by Cécile Duflot, and including Dominique Voynet, Yves Cochet and Noël Mamère were positioned between the two aforementioned factions.

Elected officials

• Deputies:
  GDR Group). Martine Billard, elected as a Green in 2007 joined the Left Party in July 2009.^[6]
• Senators: Marie-Christine Blandin, Alima Boumediene-Thiery, Jean Desessard, Jacques Muller, Dominique Voynet (Socialist Group).
• MEPs:
  Europe Écologie
  are not members of the party).

The Greens held 41 town halls,^[when?] the largest city being Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis). Other cities held by the Greens include Wattwiller, Bègles and Mèze.^[7] The party also claims 168 regional councillors and 14 general councillors (plus 9 Parisian councillors).

Popular support and electoral record

The Greens were strong electorally in urban areas, specifically in the

Presidential

Election	Candidate	First round		Second round		Result
		Votes	%	Votes	%
1988	Antoine Waechter	1,149,897	3.8%	-	-	Lost
1995	Dominique Voynet	1,010,738	3.3%	-	-	Lost
2002	Noël Mamère	1,495,724	5.3%	-	-	Lost
2007	Dominique Voynet	576,666	1.6%	-	-	Lost

Legislative

French National Assembly

Election year	# of 1st round votes	% of 1st round vote	# of seats
1986	340,109	1.21%	0
1988	86,312	0.35%	0
1993	1,022,196	4.08%	0
1997	1,738,287	6.83%	7
2002	1,138,222	4.51%	3
2007	845,977	3.25%	4

European Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/-	Notes
1984	680,080	3.4 (#5)	0 / 81
1989	1,922,945	10.6 (#4)	9 / 81	9
1994	574,806	3.0 (#8)	0 / 87	9
1999	1,715,450	9.7 (#4)	9 / 87	9
2004	1,271,394	7.4 (#5)	6 / 78	3
2009	2,803,759	16.3 (#3)	14 / 72	8

See also

• European Federation of Green Parties
• List of environmental organizations

References