The former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls criticized this Saturday the former head of state, François Hollande, about whom he said he was “disappointed” hours after he announced his candidacy for the early legislative elections for the Socialist Party.
Speaking to FranceInfo, Valls has expressed his “anger” and “disappointment” at the decision of former President Hollande, whom he has accused of “allying himself with the Popular Front”the alliance formed this Thursday by the main left-wing parties in order to confront the rise of the extreme right and also unseat Macronism in the next legislative elections, scheduled for June 30 and July 7.
According to this politician of Catalan origin, François Hollande “participates in a double lie” since, on the one hand, he supports “an economic program that is exactly the opposite of what (he) thinks and has done” and, on the other, he allies with La Francia Insumisa, “which maintains an anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish discourse.”
“No one believes that François Hollande defends retirement at 60 years of age,” said Manuel Valls, alluding to one of the objectives of the New Popular Front.
Valls, who was prime minister during Hollande’s Presidency (2012-2017), has accused the socialist of being aware of the party’s weakness within the new alliance. “He knows perfectly well that the socialists will not be dominant in this Popular Front and that, one way or another, it is France Rebellious that will be stronger,” he lamented.
Manuel Valls has called for “an awakening” and for people to unite around “those who have a certain idea of France and the Republic”, citing several political leaders, including “former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and the current head of the government [Gabriel Attal]”.
On June 9, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and the call for legislative elections, hours after learning of the victory of the far right in the European Parliament elections.
