JOIN USFrench left-wing parties close in on anti-Macron alliance
France's left-wing parties were on Friday inching towards a deal to join forces ahead of June parliamentary elections, following their defeat in this month's presidential election.
The left fielded four major candidates for the presidency, splitting the vote in the first round and meaning none of them progressed to the second round run-off, which was won by President Emmanuel Macron.
Ahead of parliamentary polls on June 12 and 19, the hard-left France Unbowed party, the Socialists, the Greens and the Communists are attempting to form an alliance that would give them a chance of winning a majority.
That would hand them an opportunity to thwart much of the domestic economic reform agenda proposed by Macron, notably his plan to raise the retirement age.
"I'm very hopeful that these negotiations will come to a successful end in the next few hours," head of the EELV greens party, Julien Bayou, told the France 2 channel, adding that "a deal was in sight".
"We can agree on the fundamentals and much more," he added.
The talks are being led by France Unbowed, headed by former Trotskyist Jean-Luc Melenchon -- who finished third in the first round and has declared his aim to become prime minister under Macron.
The Socialist Party, which is fighting for survival after scoring less than two per cent in the presidential election, published its response to 12 core policy proposals by France Unbowed on Friday.
The broadly positive response saw it accept the principle of raising the minimum wage, reducing the retirement age to 60, and diverging from "some rules" that all members of the European Union are meant to respect.
In a four-page reply signalling a major shift leftwards, the party said the "shared programme, founded on the genuine search for convergence, has to send a message of a real desire to govern together for the working and middle classes."
But it said it should not "erase the identity and political history of everyone."
Former Socialist president Francois Hollande, who is known to be keen to re-enter politics, has criticised the proposed tie-up.
"It's not a discussion that is in question, it's a disappearance" of the party, he told Franceinfo radio on Thursday.
But political scientist Remi Lefebvre told AFP the Socialist party "has absolutely no other option" than to strike the deal because it risks losing "most" of its MPs in June.
Melenchon, who scored 22 per cent of the first-round presidential vote, has also been discussing with the Communist Party, whose candidate Fabien Roussel reached 2.3 per cent.
Roussel warned Thursday that talks were at a "standstill".
Analysts say that for an alliance to work, the parties will need to overcome historic rivalries and hammer out a tricky agreement that will see them divide up constituencies where they will all back a joint candidate.
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