France’s Greens prepare to pick a standard-bearer

THESE ARE succulent times to be a French green. Fully 81% of respondents to a recent poll said climate change was a “very serious problem”, up from 69% in 2015. Recent wildfires, floods and a late frost are a grim reminder of environmental dangers. In local elections last year Europe Écologie Les Verts, the French Green party, won control of some big cities, including Bordeaux, Lyon and Strasbourg. And the rise of the German Greens has raised hopes of a similar breakthrough in France, ahead of presidential elections next year.So it is with a spring in their step that the Greens are preparing to pick a presidential candidate, at a two-round vote in September. Five candidates are standing, and the race is peculiarly open, not least because only 17,000 people have so far signed up to vote. This puts the choice in the hands of party devotees who, says one Green, “are militant and clearly to the left of the Socialists”. The Greens could well end up with a candidate who delights the radical base, but repels voters.