LFI and EELV together from the first round ? Julia Mignacca proposes “a solid alternative” for the 2026 municipal elections in Montpellier

Julia Mignacca, responsable des Ecologistes : ” Cet historique avec l’époque Frêche, je le découvre. Il y avait un rapport presque féodal au PS.” Midi Libre – TOM SERRANO

Having just been appointed co-secretary of the Ecologists (ex-EELV) of Montpellier, Julia Mignacca is displaying a strong position: an alliance with the Insoumis from the first round. But before proposing this union, she will have to ensure that her own party does not implode.

You were appointed this week as local co-secretary of the Ecologists ? What does that consist of ?

Local co-secretary, that means that we manage the party locally, with Saïd Bouya, an activist from working-class neighborhoods, we are a good pair I think. We will manage the entire organization of the preparation for the municipal elections. We are not alone, we have an animation council.

What will be the highlights ? The calendar ?

We will decide on a policy, designate a list a priori in the summer. We will also have to decide on a strategy with a general assembly, with the activists, members, who will vote. We have to prepare the strategy. It cannot be invented in two days. And then there is the challenge: how we will build the program and with whom ?

You are at the head of the party in Montpellier while we know little about you. You were just a candidate in the 2022 legislative elections, in the 3rd constituency…

I came back to Montpellier in 2020 but I have been an activist for a long time. Well, I was born in Ganges. And when I came back, I arrived in a party that is fractured. The fractures do not date from 2020. I worked to “clean” the party. I am happy, we are reaching a conclusion.

There is still a long way to go…

It's better than before. We are more or less in agreement on the objective, the line that I have been carrying since I arrived: breaking with the Socialist Party. We also have a base: the Ecologists' program. How do we make our city a resilient and inclusive city ? Today, with the mayor in place, it is quite the opposite. It is about a policy of attractiveness and expansion of the city, about a logic of metropolitanization, which is exclusive for all those who do not have the means. In our territory, there is a fracture that we are always accentuating. And local policies are responsible for the rise of impoverishment and the RN.

You said you want a resilient city. What does that mean? ?

That resists and adapts positively to climate change, that allows us to live serenely to climate change.

The goal was, you said, to clean up. Do you really think there is improvement? ?

In 2020, when I arrived, I noticed that the fractures were strong. We showed a deplorable image, with three lists from the Greens in the municipal elections. In the end, we lost by dismissing the head of the list a month before the election. To then have twelve elected officials in the majority who fracture during their term. We could make a more positive assessment. But I note that these fractures predate 2020. Our party inherited Frêchism. There are very clear logics of submission to the Socialist Party. At one point, we had to break away from that. I am discovering this history with the Frêche era. There was an almost feudal relationship. Today, we have won battles. We have a team with almost a hundred activists who carry this line.

How can you say that it's clean when you are yourselves challenged and your opponents in your own party, elected in the municipal majority, have made a request to Paris to place the local group under supervision ?

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I'm not saying it's simple. I've seen it all for four years. We have a majority at the AGM. Whether there is an appeal is the internal life of the parties. Will the appeal succeed ? We'll see. The line we're taking doesn't please some, but they're in the minority. At some point, they'll have to accept it. So we've moved forward. Manu Reynaud had taken very clear positions that were deemed contrary to the party's values. He was excluded, that's final, he appealed, he lost. Marine Tondelier herself denounced this kind of practice. There's an alignment. We're sticking to the sovereignty of the Greens. We don't want to be influenced by others anymore.

You can't unite and you hope to unite the people of Montpellier around you…

The subject is: what do we want for the city and the people of Montpellier ? That's what will bring us together. And I think we need the broadest possible alliance to create a real alternative.

An alliance with whom ?

With the citizens, with France Insoumise, with all those who identify with our policy of rupture. People are disillusioned with politics, we need to reinvent ourselves.

You mention LFI, you are the most compatible with them. Do you recognize yourself in the term watermelon green? ?

I never understood how it was an insult. The Ecologists are anchored on the left, we defend a social, environmental policy, I am not afraid to assume it. Afterwards, that's what I was telling you, I am for the autonomy of my party, we are not vassalized to another political force. On the other hand, this does not prevent us from joining forces while respecting each other.

Could you reach an agreement from the first round with LFI ?

It has to be decided, we don't all have the same vision. But I think so. Jean-Louis Roumégas is not on that line. It's the members who will choose. We have common values. From the first round, we must be able to propose a solid alternative. We have to build it, and we have time.

You're not afraid of weakening yourself ? Of losing visibility ?

The condition is: how could it work ? Parties, activists, neither the Greens nor the LFI want to be the auxiliaries of one or the other. We need to agree on the projects. And we also need clarification on their side. When I see René Revol's positions, we clearly have disagreements and we see that he is playing into the hands of the Socialist Party. If we want the same thing, we have a duty to propose something coherent to the people of Montpellier. There is a real expectation.

We could have believed that a union would rather take place between the two rounds…

That is what the activists will have to decide. But with LFI, we tend to agree on the COM, the four boulevards, urbanization, the defense of agricultural land, the instrumentalization of secularism which personally shocked me… It is our responsibility to propose something coherent. If we start separately, the risk is that we will be weak at the end of the first round and that we will not be able to generate momentum for the second.

Why are you personally EELV and not LFI ?

Because it’s my DNA. Political ecology. Always. An activist on environmental issues since I was 16. I trained on thinkers of French political ecology. It’s my political family. And it’s anchored on the left.

How would your ecological policy be different from that of the mayor? ?

In the way of dealing with people. We cannot make a traffic plan deviation with an entire neighborhood that is crying wolf, asking for meetings, proposing solutions, and persist in making a policy without listening to people. It is not possible. I do not know if it is pride that makes them not recognize that they have done something stupid but it is the case: they have condemned an entire neighborhood and they cannot find a solution for these people. We must stop urbanizing, concreting over agricultural land. The question also of the flow, quality and efficiency of public transport… We need to provide real solutions.

And this criterion of urgency that makes ecological policies shake up habits and people ?

I think that rather than shaking them up, we need to find alternatives. Otherwise we turn them against us. We need to explain. And those who have to make the efforts cannot always be the same: they are the people in precarious situations. They suffer the most while they are the ones who pollute the least. There is an incredible injustice in this.

Do you see yourself leading the EELV list in March 2026 ?

It is not me who will choose but the members and activists. This will be discussed in due time. My role is that we have the best possible project and the best possible options. I will defend my line until the end.

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