Cohn-Bendit Resigns From EELV over TSCG

Daniel Cohn-Bendit has resigned from EELV because the party voted by over 70% to denounce the TSCG (aka Merkozy fiscal pact), which DCB regards as a refusal to support the European project and a strategic error, whatever reservations he may have about the wisdom of the fiscal pact. He accuses his former party of having taken a "gauchiste" turn:

Pour lui, sa position est "profondément pragmatique" : "rappeler nos convictions et trouver le bon chemin (...) vers mieux d'Europe" et une Europe "plus démocratique". "Ce traité, on ne l'aime pas mais c'est la base", a-t-il indiqué peu après avant d'ajouter : "J'entends les non, la colère des peuples, mais demain on fait quoi ?"

The EELV, for its part, has sought to distinguish its "no" to TSCG from Jean-Luc Mélenchon's.

Un "non" que les ténors d'EELV ont pris soin de dissocier de celui de Jean-Luc Mélenchon. A l'instar d'Eva Joly qui, après avoir appelé à "un refus fondateur", a redit qu'elle n'irait pas manifester le 30 septembre aux côtés du Front de gauche. "Il faut refuser de laisser instrumentaliser l'Europe dans la constitution d'un front du non", a lancé l'ancienne candidate à la présidentielle à la tribune.

Bilger on Cohn-Bendit

A surprising, lyrical homage by a rightist, Philippe Bilger, to a leftist, Daniel Cohn-Bendit. If only political dialog were always like this.

Bruno Le Roux

Bruno Le Roux has been elected chair of the Socialist group in the National Assembly. No surprise. He is described as follows:

Homme de confiance de François Hollande, M. Le Roux a notamment négocié les accords électoraux avec EELV, avant de devenir l'un de ses porte-paroles de campagne.

Very interesting, because we have also been told that M. Hollande did not consider himself bound by the agreement between the EELV and the Socialists, because it was an accord between parties, not a pledge by the presidential candidate of one of those parties. But the chief negotiator was a man who has had his confidence since 2002 and who has just been elected "by acclamation" to head the party group, which suggests a nihil obstat from Hollande.

I suppose that la présidence vaut bien une promesse en ce qui concerne le nucléaire, a promise that the president apparently has no intention of keeping (rightly so, in my view). But one can imagine a certain rancor on the side of the Greens, unless they, too, were party to the deception and perfectly willing to trade a meaningless promise for a substantial number of parliamentary seats. If so, chapeau! Everybody played his part extremely well, and it's no wonder that Le Roux is being rewarded for being point man in this commando raid.

Cohn-Bendit to Bayrou: Get Off the Pot

Daniel Cohn-Bendit has urged François Bayrou to follow the lead of several members of his party and endorse Hollande, for to do otherwise is to favor the re-election of Sarkozy. Meanwhile, Frédéric Martel reminds us of Bayrou's detestation of Sarkozy, which makes his hesitation all the more puzzling.

Joly's Last Stand

I don't think this was well-judged, but I suppose it was no worse than the rest of her campaign: