Manon Aubry, surrounded by Rima Hassan, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and Mathilde Panot, launched the campaign for La France Insoumise (LFI) for the European elections on March 16, 2024, at the “Convention of the Popular Union” in Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis. Manon Aubry is the head of the LFI list for the European elections on June 9. The documentary “Le compromis” follows her and two left-wing MEPs from mid-2022 to late 2023 in their legislative battle to establish a “duty of vigilance” for multinational corporations in European law. The film is screened in a full room of journalists at a theater in Paris, where Manon Aubry is the star of the evening.
In the film, Manon Aubry is shown advocating for the responsibility of multinational corporations as co-president of the left group at the European Parliament. With her background documenting human rights violations by large mining companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo during her time in humanitarian work, she has been advocating for this directive for two years. Despite the directive being adopted in a diluted version on April 24 in the European Parliament, Aubry remains committed to building majorities and distinguishing between compromise and “compromission” in Brussels. However, she also must navigate national controversies and internal struggles within LFI, the party that propelled her into politics in 2018.
As the new campaign unfolds, Aubry’s party life catches up with her. Since discovering the plot by Ségolène Royal and Jean-Luc Mélenchon in August 2023 to revive the idea of a left-wing union list for the European elections, to the days leading up to the official announcement of her list in mid-March, Aubry has been embroiled in party politics. She maintains that the addition of legal expert Rima Hassan was a “collective” decision, despite Hassan not mentioning it in her discussions with LFI. Amidst the conflicts within LFI, Aubry continues her fight against free trade treaties and high cost of living, but these issues are overshadowed by the focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that Mélenchon has chosen to emphasize during the campaign.
Since March, Aubry’s battles against free trade treaties and high living costs have taken a back seat to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that Mélenchon has highlighted in meetings and events, alongside their new ally Rima Hassan. Despite the challenges and controversies facing LFI, Manon Aubry remains at the forefront of the party’s campaign for the European elections. In the midst of internal conflicts and external pressures, Aubry continues to advocate for the rights of workers and hold multinational corporations accountable, balancing her responsibilities as a politician and a leader within her party.
