Europeupdated 22m ago3 min read
MapJean-Luc Mélenchon Tells La Bourget Rally Everything Must Change Ahead of 2027 Campaign
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Mélenchon's 2027 program prioritizes ecology, includes 1700-euro net minimum wage and retirement at 60. Program calls for confrontation with Brussels and immediate NATO withdrawal.
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Mélenchon’s “New France”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon told a rally of about 20,000 supporters in the suburbs of La Bourget near Paris that “everything must change” as he sought to rally support ahead of the 2027 presidential campaign. Mélenchon said he was aiming for the Élysée Palace, successor to President Emmanuel Macron, and he told the crowd, “I have only one reasonable thing to propose to you, which is actually very moderate: everything must change.” Mélenchon presented his program titled “Common Future,” and the France Insoumise party says it will restore the retirement age to 60 for those who contributed to the system for 40 years.
Mélenchon also pledged to increase the net minimum monthly wage from about 1,480 euros to 1,700 euros, and the program calls for a gradual shift away from nuclear energy toward an electricity system fully based on renewables. Mélenchon framed the moment as “the demise of Macron’s era, marked by brutality and police violence,” and he accused Marine Le Pen’s far-right of having “no idea but racism.”
Clash with Le Pen
Marine Le Pen accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s updated program of being a plan to dismantle France, and she posted that it pushes “to its end the logic of deconstruction started by Emmanuel Macron since he assumed power.” Mélenchon replied on X that the RN is “almost from Édouard Philippe,” and he said Le Pen primarily attacks on immigration and the police. Le Pen argued that Mélenchon’s program includes “restoration of full jus soli, including in Mayotte,” along with “dismantling of the BAC and (the) disarming of municipal police,” while advancing a “degrowth policy” and the “progressive closure of our nuclear power plants.”
Mélenchon countered that Le Pen “adore[s] the police” and “focus[es] everything on immigration,” while he said she did not mention his proposals to raise the minimum wage, restore retirement at 60, or freeze prices for certain products. The dispute unfolded as surveys placed Le Pen and Mélenchon at the top of voting intentions for the first round on April 18 and for the final race to the Élysée on May 2.
Europe and NATO stakes
Mélenchon’s program renews his critique of NATO and calls for France’s gradual withdrawal from the alliance, starting with leaving its integrated military leadership.
“Immediately withdraw from NATO’s integrated command and then, in stages, from the organization itself.”
Mélenchon said that “a settlement of the Ukraine conflict cannot be achieved through territorial concessions without consulting the affected populations,” and he added that Europe would have to play an active role in peace talks.
POLITICO reported that France Unbowed’s official platform set out leaving NATO and nationalizing defense companies, and it said the program reads, “Immediately withdraw from NATO’s integrated command and then, in stages, from the organization itself.”
The program also calls for rewriting European treaties, removing key EU regulatory framework elements such as debt and deficit ceilings, and it says “Our logic is simple. As long as a treaty-change agreement is not secured, we discuss with our partners and disobey the blocking rules in parallel.”
Public Sénat described the campaign’s European context as a “wave of protests” shaking capitals across the Union, and it said the movement’s program makes ecology the keystone of its “New France.”