French Greens vow “not to obey” EU rules in electoral pact with far-left – POLITICO.

France’s Green Party said it was “ready to flout EU rules” as it sealed the terms of an electoral alliance with far-left party France Unbowed ahead of France’s general election in June.

The pact means the two parties will not field separate candidates in the same areas across France in the first round of elections on June 12 and will allow the Greens to run without opposition from the far left around 100 constituencies.

“When certain European rules are pivotal (consumer protection, environmental standards, etc.), many others are out of step or even contradict the imperatives of ecological and social urgency,” say the two parties called in a joint statement released in the early hours of Monday morning. “In order to be able to apply our program … we must overcome these deadlocks and be prepared to disregard certain European rules.”

The Greens have traditionally been a strong pro-EU party and in April the party’s presidential candidate, MEP Yannick Jadot, called that “the ecologists’ vote is pro-European”. In contrast, during the France Unbowed election campaign, Jean-Luc Mélenchon said he was sought a renegotiation of the EU treaties and that if necessary he would ignore European law in order to push his program through.

The position of the two parties on the EU was one of the most important glue dots in negotiating their alliance.

In the statement, the parties attracted special attention the EU’s competition rules, economic policies including the Stability and Growth Pact and the “neoliberal orientation” of the Common Agricultural Policy as the main points of contention with the EU – and areas where they could directly challenge the bloc. They also agreed on a campaign to raise the minimum wage to €1,400, price freezes on basic commodities and lower the retirement age to 60.

It comes as France Unbowed cemented itself as the dominant left-wing power in the first round of France’s April presidential election, finishing third with 22 percent, just a point behind far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. The Greens, on the other hand, only got 4.6 percent, other left-wing parties missed 2 percent.

France Unbowed now hopes to reach similar agreements with France’s socialist and communist parties, with talks between the three parties ongoing keep going all day Monday.