Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Biography

Early life, education, and early politics (1951–1976)

Mélenchon was born in Tangier (Tangier International Zone), Morocco. His father, Georges, was a postmaster of Spanish descent, and his mother, Jeanine Bayona, was a primary school teacher of both Spanish and Sicilian descent. He grew up in Morocco, until his family moved to France in 1962. Mélenchon was then educated at the Lycée Pierre-Corneille, a state secondary school in Rouen, Normandy. He graduated in 1972. With a degree in philosophy from the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon and having gained a CAPES, he became a teacher before entering politics. He was originally a follower of Pierre Lambert and a member of the Trotskyist movement before supporting François Mitterrand and joining the Socialist Party (PS).

Family and private life

In 1969, Mélenchon met Bernadette Abriel, two years younger than him, and they became parents of Marlyne, in 1974. Marlyne had various jobs in the public sector.

Since the beginning of the 2010s, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been in a relationship with Sofia Chikirou, a member of his own party. His relationship with Sofia Chikirou is considered an open secret She has been nicknamed "the boss's wife".

Socialist Mitterrandist leader (1976–1986)

Mélenchon left Besançon to enter professional life in Lons-le-Saunier (Jura), and joined the PS in September 1976. He was part of the democratic socialist and left-wing of the PS. Mélenchon did not join the French Communist Party (PCF) because of the latter's refusal to condemn the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 to end the Prague Spring, an event that he said had significantly affected him in political terms, even more than the protests of 1968, which occurred when he was still a university student and he became leader of the student movement at the University of Besançon, and was one of the causes of his joining in 1972 the Internationalist Communist Organisation. As a member of the PS, he soon assumed local and departmental responsibilities (deputy section secretary of Montaigu), and developed a federal newspaper that fought for a union between the PS and the PCF. It was at this time that the latter broke the agreements of the union of the left on a joint program of government. He then came to the attention of Claude Germon, mayor of Massy (Essonne) and member of the executive office of the PS responsible for the business section. Without stable work after his application was rejected at the Croix du Jura newspaper, he was hired by Claude Germon to become his private secretary.

Mélenchon became one of the leading Mitterrandist leaders of the Essonne federation, which led him to the position of first secretary of this federation at the Valence Congress in 1981; he remained in this position until 1986. He positioned himself both against the "Second left" of Michel Rocard and the Centre of Socialist Studies, Research, and Education (CERES) of Jean-Pierre Chevènement. He was elected senator during the senatorials of 1986, and again in 1995 and 2004. A supporter of Mitterrand and left-wing reformist socialism, Mélenchon presented two lectures about Mitterrand's presidency, "1981: The Revolution Suspended" and "A Complete Balance Sheet of François Mitterand's presidency". He saw Mitterand's win in 1981 as the end of a political process of which the main accelerator was "the ten million workers on strike" in the protests of 1968. He argued that the reforms introduced by Mitterrand were more wide-ranging than often recognised, citing the nationalisation of dozens of banks electricity companies, engineering companies, and motorways, the doubling of the budget of the Ministry of Culture, and increased taxes for the rich, and against the perceived betrayal on the part of Mitterrand and the other left-wing leaders. According to Mélenchon, the blame for the turn to austerity rest on a lack of political courage, a lack of strategy on the left of the left, and a lack of mass mobilisation.

Socialist Party (1986–2008)

He was elected senator in the 1986 French Senate elections.

From the Socialist Left to For the Social Republic (1988-2005)

A founder, along with Julien Dray, of the Socialist Left in 1988, he opposed the open-door policy of François Mitterrand's second presidency, targeting Michel Rocard and the "soft left," as well as France's entry into the Gulf War (first Gulf War), against the majority of his party and President Thierry.

At the 1990 Rennes Congress, where no motion reached 30%, the party's left wing was divided into four factions. Mélenchon led his own motion, which obtained 1.35% of the vote. In June 1990, he submitted a bill to the Senate for the creation of a civil partnership contract, a precursor to what would become the Civil Solidarity Pact (PACS) in 1999.

In April 1992, he was defeated in the Massy-Ouest canton, which he had won in 1985: his 38.43% was insufficient compared to the 39.71% of the right-wing candidate, Vincent Delahaye. He attributes his defeat by 73 votes to Guy Bonneau's (Génération écologie) remaining in the second round.

In 1992, he called for a vote in favour of the Maastricht Treaty, which he considered a "left-wing compromise". In a speech to the Senate, he considers that the single currency is the major instrument that will allow Europe to be "carrier of civilization, culture, networks of solidarity" against the dollar, which. In this vein, he expressed regret over the Danish vote on the Maastricht Treaty, stating: "As cruel as it may be to hear, nations can be mistaken. Ours has already made a mistake, and we know the price that history has paid for missing the boat."

While continuing to defend the existence of the single currency, he quickly regretted his choice regarding the Maastricht Treaty and, along with the Socialist Left, submitted an amendment, entitled "Turning the page on Maastricht," to a 1996 Socialist Party convention. He later declared that the opponents of this treaty were right and that the stated objective at the time was a "total failure".

A long-standing and stable faction, the Socialist Left presented its own motion at three Socialist Party congresses until its dissolution in 2002. It obtained scores ranging from 7.3% to 13.3% of the votes cast.

Final Years in the Socialist Party (2005-2008)

At the Le Mans congress in November 2005, the Socialist Party's "Trait d'union" (Trait d'union) submitted a contribution. Despite the consensus among its leaders on the European question, the left wing of the Socialist Party was divided. "Trait d'union" joined the motion led by Laurent Fabius and supported by Marie-Noëlle Lienemann, while the other leaders of the left wing rallied behind the motion presented by the New Socialist Party (NPS). The former obtained 21.2% of the vote, the latter 23.6%, while party members re-elected the outgoing majority of François Hollande (53%). In the context of the primary election held a year later within the Socialist Party (PS) to choose between the candidates for the Socialist nomination in the presidential election, Mélenchon again endorsed Laurent Fabius.

In this regard, he declared in August 2005:

There aren't fifty candidates for the 2007 presidential election within the PS; at this point, there are only two left: Laurent Fabius and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. They are two intelligent men, who look good, but they need to be distinguished on something, namely their ideas and commitments. […] I hope the Socialist Party doesn't make the mistake of fielding a candidate who supported the "yes" vote [in the French referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, which is the case with Dominique Strauss-Kahn]. By logic, I conclude that Laurent Fabius should be the candidate. […] Fabius has been a minister; he is capable of leading the country. I will support him, but not with a blank check."

Two days after the Socialist Party's nomination of Ségolène Royal, which he had opposed, he attended a meeting of the anti-liberal left, leaving doubt about its possible support for his candidacy in the presidential election.

After the failure of the unity groups to unite behind a common candidate, he wrote on his blog, affirming his support for Ségolène Royal:"A portion of the politically engaged left-wing electorate is becoming demobilized. They do not feel represented. A segment of the electorate, among those disheartened (by the harshness of life) — disoriented (by the absence of an intelligible radical political alternative), will continue to waver between disgusted indifference and bursts of blind electoral anger. Finally, the centrality of the Socialist candidacy on the left is now absolute, whether one likes it or not, because it seems to be the only effective way to achieve the most basic common program: to be present in the second round and defeat the right." The defeat of the latter in the second round of the presidential election, against the candidate of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), Nicolas Sarkozy, led him to criticize the former candidate's strategy very sharply, notably through his book "In Search of the Left".

Departure from the Socialists and foundation of the Left Party (2008–2012)

At the Reims Congress in September 2008, the political current Trait d'union, created after the victory of the "No" in the 2005 French European Constitution referendum, Mélenchon made a new contribution. On the eve of the filing of the motions, an agreement was reached between the seven contributions of the left wing of the PS, and Mélenchon was one of the signatories of Motion C entitled "A world ahead", led by Benoît Hamon. For the first time, this motion brought together all the sensibilities of the left wing of the PS, with emblematic personalities like Gérard Filoche, Marie-Noëlle Lienemann, and Paul Quilès. He described this gathering as a "historic event".

On 6 November 2008, the Socialist militants voted to decide between six motions. The motion supported by Ségolène Royal led with about 29% of the votes cast, while the one led by Benoît Hamon came in fourth with 18.5%. For Mélenchon, this was a victory of the outgoing majority, which carried 80% of the votes (with the first three motions) including the motion advocating the alliance in the centre. Believing themselves too far from this trend to the point that it would not be useful to take part in the congress, Mélenchon, alongside Marc Dolez, announced on 7 November their decision, "out of fidelity to their commitments", and for their independence of action, to leave the PS, and to create a new movement "without concession facing the right".

They announced "the construction of a new left-wing party", simply called the Left Party (on the German model of Die Linke), and called for "the constitution of a left-wing front for the European elections". On 18 November, in a meeting with the PCF, the two parties announced their alliance in the form of a "partnership", within the framework of a "left front for another democratic and social Europe, against the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon and the current European Treaties". The launch meeting of the Left Party was held on 29 November in Saint-Ouen, in the presence of Die Linke's co-chairman Oskar Lafontaine. Mélenchon became the party president. Until 2014, he was also co-president alongside Martine Billard.

First presidential candidacy (2012)

A political outsider, Mélenchon was the candidate representing the Left Front (Communist Party of France, Left Party, Unitary Left) in the 2012 French presidential election. He took fourth place and achieved 11.10% of the vote, trailing behind François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Marine Le Pen and their respective parties (the PS, the Union for a Popular Movement, and the National Front). In comparison, the winner, Hollande, received 28.63% of the vote. It was the first time the non-socialist left had registered a double figure result since Georges Marchais in 1981.

In the 2012 French legislative election, Mélenchon represented the Left Front in the Pas-de-Calais' 11th constituency against his rival Marine Le Pen, where she had over 31% in the presidential election. He received third place with 21.46% of the vote, narrowly edged out for second by Socialist Party member Phillip Kemel. Mélenchon decided not to stand in the second round of the election after this result.

Second presidential candidacy (2017)

During the presidency of Hollande, Mélenchon became one of the most critical voices in the left against his centrist free-market policy, which he considered a betrayal of the culture and ideas of the French left. During an interview on the French television channel TF1 on 10 February 2016, Melenchon launched the left-wing political platform La France Insoumise, without any expectation of victory. La France Insoumise was subsequently endorsed by several parties, such as the Left Party and French Communist Party, in addition to members of the Europe Ecology – The Greens like Sergio Coronado, an assembly member for the 2nd Overseas Constituency, and the mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle. According to political scientist Christopher Bickerton, La France Insoumise was comparable to Podemos in Spain, and Le Baron Noir character Michel Vidal is based on Mélenchon. La France Insoumise's broad range meant it ran, in the words of Bickerton, "from the remnants of the PCF's industrial working class votes to the vast majority of the country's Muslim population, as well as urbanised intellectuals and France’s many neo-ruralist converts". According to Bickerton, La France Insoumise is "a flexible organisation, in tune with the individualism of the present", with "no membership as such" and much of its activism being "self-financed and self-organised", and where "Mélenchon gives his approval to initiatives after the fact rather than issuing orders or instructions."

On 12 January 2017, Mélenchon secured the 500 elected sponsors required to be validated by the Constitutional Council. After Benoît Hamon won the nomination for the Parti Socialiste on a left-wing platform, beating former Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, 58–41, Hamon announced on TF1 on 27 February that he and Melenchon had been in talks to form an alliance but their stances on the European Union separated them, as Melenchon's platform was to renegotiate EU treaties or hold a referendum. France 24 reported: "Adding their scores would place a candidate in first or second place." Mélenchon, who saw himself as "outside the frame of political parties", held at a consistent 12% for most of the campaign, until a late upwards surge which put him just behind third place François Fillon at 18%. This late surge is mainly due to Mélenchon's performance within the second presidential debate hosted by BFM TV and CNews, where, according to an Elabe poll, he was found the most convincing candidate by 25%; however, he did not qualify for the second round of voting, winning 19.6% of the vote in the first round, placing fourth. With seven million votes, La France Insoumise had achieved the biggest vote in France for the radical left since 1945; it achieved 24% among blue-collar voters, 22% among low-paid white-collar voters, and 30% among 18–24 year-olds.

Member of the National Assembly (2017–2022)

In June 2017, Mélenchon became a member of the National Assembly for La France Insoumise following his win in the legislative election in the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône, which covers parts of the centre of Marseille. He won 59.9% of the vote in the second round against En Marche! candidate Corrine Versini. He defeated sitting member Patrick Mennucci in the first round, a notable member of the Socialist Party in Marseille. The collapse of the Socialist Party meant that La France Insoumise had become the de facto opposition to Emmanuel Macron in the National Assembly.

His election to the National Assembly drew national media attention. During the examination of the 2017 Labour Law bill, he was remarked in the National Assembly for his multiple interventions, defending the Labour Code status quo along with fellow La France Insoumise members, arguing that flexibilisation would be harmful to workers. He drew attention from the media once more when he came in Parliament with a five-euros food shopping bag to denounce a student benefits cut planned by the government. In December 2019, Mélenchon received a suspended prison sentence of three months for rebellion and provocation following an altercation with police officers who had come to serve a warrant at the La France Insoumise headquarters in Paris.

Third presidential candidacy and NUPES (2022–2023)

Mélenchon was again a candidate in the 2022 French presidential election. He was one of three candidates placed without their consent on the ballot for the 2022 French People's Primary, a non-official vote for a common left-wing candidate; he came third out of seven, behind Christiane Taubira and Yannick Jadot. Taubira withdrew in March, and endorsed Mélenchon. Mélenchon's polling numbers surged in the final weeks of campaigning, putting him within chance of making the second round. In 2017, 21.4% had been enough to gain access to the second round.

For the first round of the 2022 presidential election, Mélenchon's strategy was to unite the other left-wing anti-neoliberal parties against Emmanuel Macron, who attempted to play down his neoliberalism in the second round in order to appeal to Mélenchon voters while presenting Marine Le Pen as a dangerous nationalist. This dynamic flipped in the 2022 French legislative election as Mélenchon and La France Insoumise had become part of the New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES), a broad anti-neoliberal coalition. In turn, Macron denounced Mélenchon and the anti-neoliberal NUPES coalition as delusional anti-capitalists. Mélenchon urged his supporters "not to give a single vote to Mrs Le Pen". According to political scientist Christopher Bickerton, observers commented that "the LFI's electoral offer was the most sophisticated of all the parties — a total of 694 proposals, from a sixth republic to 'rational' anti-terrorist legislation, to a commitment to the demilitarisation of space."

In the first round of voting in France's two round voting system, Mélenchon came in third place with 22% of the vote, behind Macron (28%) and Le Pen (23%). Only the top two finishers continue on to the second round, so Mélenchon was eliminated after the results of the first round were certified. Mélenchon advised his voters not to vote for Le Pen in the second round but did not endorse Macron. His 7.7 million first-round voters became a key demographic for the second round. He was the most popular candidate for voters aged 24–35, and in the overseas departments of Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Saint Martin, obtaining majorities in several of these jurisdictions. He also finished first in Île-de-France. Mélenchon did not run for re-election in Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency, instead giving his candidacy to Manuel Bompard. Mélenchon led the NUPES coalition since May 2022. In the 2022 legislative election, NUPES won 131 seats. Amid divisions, NUPES dissolved in 2023.

Fourth presidential candidacy

On 3 May 2026, Mélenchon officially announced his candidacy for the 2027 French presidential election during the TF1 evening news broadcast. Libération reported: "The founder of La France Insoumise hopes to reach the runoff round for the first time, having finished fourth in 2017 (19.58% of the vote) and third in 2022 (21.95%)." He said during the broadcast, "The context and the urgency of the situation drove the movement's decision." He said that he thinks he is the "best prepared" within his party and that the "main adversary" is the Rassemblement National.

He held his first campaign rally on 7 June 2026 in Seine-Saint-Denis.

Political positions

Mélenchon is a socialist republican, inspired primarily by the founder of French republican socialism, Jean Jaurès. During his political career, Mélenchon crossed various tendencies of the French left, from Trotskyism in his youth to more moderate socialism, as he was in the Socialist Party for almost thirty years, occupying a place on the left wing of the party, before he began a companionship with the French Communist Party, after his departure from the Socialist Party in 2008. He rejects the labels of radical left or far-left that the press has often ascribed to his political positions. According to historian Jean-Numa Ducange, Mélenchon became for many the main representative of the historical French left during the 2017 presidential election, scoring 20%, far ahead of the Socialist Party candidate Benoît Hamon, and was not a radical leftist, having unconditionally supported the Plural Left that was in power between 1997 and 2002, and having himself been a minister in this government between 2000 and 2002. According to historian Roger Martelli, Mélenchon's long Socialist Party past contradicts the restricted image of "left of the left", and gives him a "traditional anchoring". Historian Sudhir Hazareesingh described Mélenchon as a "democratic socialist candidate [who] symbolises France's hunger for social, political, and environmental reform, as well as the popular frustration with the nation's established elites", and as "a middle-class champion of the working people, a former senator turned radical reformer, a transformative visionary driven by memories of past glories, a digital geek steeped in classical learning, an inveterate critic of presidentialism who is himself a charismatic leader, and a 70-year-old veteran who counts the young among his primary constituencies". According to sociologist Paolo Gerbaudo, Mélenchon supports social-democratic and reformist socialist policies, having softened his "revolutionary and radical image". During the 2022 presidential campaign, Mélenchon shifted towards a more pragmatic approach, instead of a philosophical and theoretical one, while campaigning in favour of bread-and-butter issues. According to political scientist Christopher Bickerton, among the reasons for "Mélenchon's high score in the 2022 presidential election was that he supplemented his earlier populism with an extensive and comprehensive legislative programme".

Mélenchon's radicalism is linked to his criticism of neoliberalism. According to the Belgian public media RTBF, his radical appearance is linked to his criticism of neoliberalism, international treaties, and the functioning of the European Union (EU), as well as his tax reform. Mélenchon does not support Marxist ideas of "proletarian revolution", as is the case with the New Anticapitalist Party and Lutte Ouvrière, and his tax reform is more moderate than that of the far-left. On the political spectrum, Mélenchon is placed on the political left, including by international news outlets like CNN, The Daily Telegraph, Der Spiegel, Deutsche Welle, NBC News, The New Yorker, Politico, The Scotsman, The Spectator, and The Times; he is often also classified as far-left, or left-wing populist, by Anglo-Saxon news outlets (the Associated Press, BBC News, Bloomberg News, The Conversation, the Financial Times, The Independent, Reuters, Time, and The Washington Post), as well as by the French media whose audience is international (Euronews, France 24, and Radio France Internationale). He is described as a "firebrand leader of the left".

Sixth Republic and French Constitution

Mélenchon advocates for the holding of a constitutional convention to create a Sixth French Republic. In the 2017 party manifesto titled L'Avenir en commun, it states in the first chapter: "The new constitution that France needs must be radically different." On 14 September 2014, Mélenchon wrote in Le Monde that "France must protect itself from the powers of finance. They devour the real economy. ... To this end, the definition of the constitutional rights of private ownership of capital should change. ... Again, it is inclusion in the Constitution that will fix this and make it a common rule."

Mélenchon is endorsed by the Movement for the 6th Republic, and has spoken positively of them before. A spokesman for La France Insoumise affirmed that Mélenchon was very welcoming of a Sixth Republic run by the people that welcomes democracy, ecology, and challenges social issues. The constitutional convention members must not have ever been elected representatives, and they would not be able to present themselves thereafter.

Agriculture

The association L214, which is a non-profit for animal protection, stated that he was the only candidate "for animals" during its evaluation of the candidates' programmes, giving him a score of 15.7/20, placing him at the head of 11 candidates.

European Parliament

Mélenchon's attendance before the 2012 presidential election was at 63%, and after this, his average is often compiled with pre-2012, so it is compiled at 71.40%. Mélenchon justified his relatively low attendance with how active he is within France itself, and has posted a list of other reasons on his blog. He increased his attendance after that, with the website votewatch.eu reporting it in 2017 at 85.1%.

Foreign policy

In line with France's one China policy, Mélenchon considers Taiwan to be a part of China. In 2026, he stated regarding Taiwan that "There is a problem, and it is up to the Chinese to resolve it. We must intervene politely and respectfully, so that it is done calmly. If they intervene, we will not get involved. If I am President of the Republic, we will never go to war with China". He added "we mustn't have a colonial relationship with China. We're no longer in the 19th century. We must come to an understanding with them".

Mélenchon is critical of German economic policies. In 2013, he said: "Nobody wants to be German. They are poorer, they die earlier, they don't have children. Even their migrants are fleeing, because no one wants to live with them." After writing a pamphlet against German policies in May 2015, Mélenchon declared: "But I'm not being anti-German. My aim is to rid my readers of any fascination with the so-called 'German model'. What a 'model', indeed! It is a mockery, a fake paradise, whose population suffers from increasing impoverishment and social violence. The fantasy of the 'German model' is the opium of the rich!"

After the German Chancellor Angela Merkel described reform efforts so far in France and Italy as "insufficient" in December 2014, Mélenchon replied through Twitter in German and French: "Maul zu, Frau #Merkel ! Frankreich ist frei. Occupez-vous de vos pauvres et de vos équipements en ruines !" ("Shut your mouth, Mrs. Merkel! France is free. Take care of your poor and your ruined equipment.") In reaction to the 2015 Greek bailout referendum on the Greek sovereign debt crisis in early July 2015, he said that the "right-wing German government" was primarily responsible for the aggravation of the crisis.

In 2014 Mélenchon considered the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea to be "absolutely predictable", stating that "Crimean ports [were considered by Russia as] vital for Russia's security", and that Russia was taking "protective measures against an adventurous putschist power", also alleging that Ukraine was influenced by neo-Nazis. He further opposed imposing sanctions on Russia, and as a member of the European Parliament, voted against all forms of cooperation with Ukraine, including on science. In 2015, Mélenchon referred to Ukraine as a country "struggling to be one". During the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, he said that Russia "...must not cross Ukraine's borders", while stating that the United States should not "annex Ukraine into NATO". This was criticized as making "obfuscations and excuses for Russia", as there is no such thing as annexation into NATO. He blamed the cause of the conflict between 2014 and 2022 on what he termed as NATO "pushing ever closer to [Russia's] borders".

Defence

In 2017, Mélenchon called for French withdrawal from the integrated command of NATO, and in 2022 advocated for France assuring its own defence.

Regionalism

Mélenchon comes from a left-wing tradition that emphasises the unity of the French Republic and is suspicious of regionalism. Nevertheless, Mélenchon has no fixed position on regionalism, but has stated that he supports the teaching of regional languages, especially Breton. He supports state funding for the teaching of the Breton language. He has gone against autonomy for Brittany, even criticising socialists from the region for promoting "autonomy".

In 2018, Mélenchon was asked a question about an anti-corruption investigation by a journalist from Toulouse, Véronique Gaurel. He responded by mocking her accent, accusing her of "talking nonsense" and then asking "has anyone got a question in more or less comprehensible French?". Video of the exchange was circulated widely on social media and sparked a debate about whether discrimination based on regional accents should be made illegal. Mélenchon apologised for his comment, claiming he thought the journalist was mocking him.

Controversies

Hostility toward journalists

Mélenchon has been repeatedly criticized by Reporters Without Borders for his extreme hostility toward journalists and news organizations.

In 2009, he told journalist Arlette Chabot, "You should go to hell", and added: "She acts like a monkey".

In 2010, he called TV presenter David Pujadas "a bastard".

In May 2012, he called Renaud Revel of L'Express a "dirty little spy", and called the magazine "fascist".

In April 2012, Hugh Schofield, correspondent for the BBC, said he had been insulted by Mélenchon.

In 2018, investigative journalists working for France Info revealed irregularities in his campaign finance accounts. In response, Mélenchon called them "scum", and urged all his supporters to harass France Info journalists. The same year, he called the newspaper Mediapart the corrupt "instrument of the police and the courts".

In 2021, a court found him guilty of public defamation after calling a Le Monde journalist a former assassin.

In 2024, he told reporters working for popular TV show Quotidien: "You fascists, get out of here"

In 2025, two journalists published La Meute, a book about the rise of his movement. Mélenchon called them "degenerates". The publisher Flammarion denounced threats against the authors.

Accusations of support for Russia

Some commentators claimed Mélenchon "supported Russia" and was sympathetic towards Vladimir Putin. Notably, the journalist Nicolas Hénin said that Mélenchon is "on the left of the political spectrum, but is an advocate for the Kremlin leader", with Hénin quoting how Mélenchon is the "political victim number one" after the murder of the Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. Cécile Vaissié, author of The Kremlin Networks, considers Mélenchon as "one of those that approve of Putin", and Yannick Jadot of EELV said that the "pro-Russia" stance is "contrary to any environment thinking".

Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been regularly described by political critics as friendly to Russia, an accusation he denies. According to French public radio channel France Inter, his position has varied, from dowplaying the threat in 2014 to outright condemnation after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In 2015, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, was killed next to the Kremlin. In response, the EU Parliament voted a motion denouncing the human rights situation in Russia. Mélenchon was one of the only members of the European Parliament to vote against the motion. He called it propaganda.

In January 2022, a few weeks before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he told Le Monde: "The Russians are moving troops toward their borders? Who would not do the same thing with such a neighbor?" As soon as the invasion of Ukraine happened, Jean-Luc Mélenchon condemned it as an unlawful act of aggression on behalf of Russia. This criticism was criticised as opportunistic by Mélenchon's opponents.

A few days after the invasion began, Jean-Luc Mélenchon said France should not provide any military aid to Ukraine. He later changed his mind and endorsed providing military aid, justifying it by Ukraine's right to defend itself. This change of policy was criticised by Mélenchon's opponents.

In October 2022, the French Parliament introduced a motion denouncing Russia's war against Ukraine. Most French political parties supported the motion. Two exceptions were the Rassemblement National (far-right) and Mélenchon's France Insoumise. They both abstained.

Accusations of antisemitism

Mélenchon is accused of frequently using antisemitic dogwhisles.

In 2013, Mélenchon referred to French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici as "one of those Eurogroup bastards [finance ministers]" putting pressure on Cyprus as it urgently sought a bail-out solution to its debt crisis. Moscovici behaves like someone who has stopped thinking in French. Someone who thinks only in the language of international finance"

Harlem Désir stated that "Mélenchon should immediately withdraw these unacceptable comments that he made using the vocabulary of the 1930s". Mélenchon responded that he "had no idea of Pierre Moscovici’s religion and [had] no intention of making an issue of it in the future".

In August 2014, during a speech in Grenoble, Mélenchon criticised the Representative Council of Jews of France (CRIF), a coalition of organisations representing French Jewry, saying "We’ve had enough of CRIF. France is the opposite of aggressive communities that lecture to the rest of country." He also stated "We do not believe that any people is superior to another", which was viewed by his critics as an allusion to the Torah's designation of Jews as the "chosen people". Cnaan Liphshiz said that Mélenchon's comments came in the wake of a series of protests in France against Israel's 2014 Gaza War. While antisemitic attacks had also been reported in France within the previous month, Liphshiz wrote that Mélenchon was referring instead to French Jews "rally[ing] in front of the embassy of a foreign country or serv[ing] its flag, weapon in hand."

In July 2017, Mélenchon maintained that Republican France bears no guilt in the Holocaust, and criticised Emmanuel Macron for admitting at a gathering in Paris remembering the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup that Vichy France was the legal French government at the time, thus conceding the French State's responsibility in the deportation of the Jews. Mélenchon's comments were echoing those of François Mitterrand, a former president, who declared in 1994 that the round-up and deportation of Jews to death camps during the war was the work of the country's Nazi occupiers and "Vichy France", an illegitimate entity distinct from France. Haaretz noted that Marine Le Pen had made comments similar to Mélenchon's three months earlier.

Accusations of promoting conspiracy theories

In 2011, journalist Rudy Reichstadt, director of Conspiracy Watch, commented that while it would be "quite unfair" to call Mélenchon a conspiracy theorist, he did sometimes abet antisemitic conspiracy theories by downplaying them or making excuses for those who promulgate them.

In June 2021, Mélenchon predicted that, in the last week of the 2022 presidential campaign, there would be a "grave incident or murder" that would be used to "point the finger at the Muslims and to invent a civil war". He cited the attack on retiree Paul Voise in 2002 shortly before the 1st round of the presidential election, the Jihadist attack against a Jewish school in Toulouse by Mohammed Merah a few months before the presidential election of 2012, and the terrorist attack in Paris a few days before the first round of the 2017 presidential election. His statements were supported by his own party and condemned by other political parties. He later clarified that he was referring to "murderers [who] are waiting for the best time to get people talking about them" and the politicians who use these events for electoral purposes. Reichstadt described Mélenchon's statement as "ambiguous" and quite close to conspiracy beliefs. He claimed that Mélenchon has been promoting conspiracy theories for several years.

Political career offices

Governmental functions

Minister of Vocational Education, 2000–2002

Electoral mandates

National Assembly

Member for Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency, 2017–2022

European Parliament

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2017

Senate

Senator of Essonne, 1986–2000 (became minister in 2000), 2004–2010 (resignation, elected in European Parliament in 2009). Elected in 1986, re-elected in 1995 and 2004. At the age of 35, he was the youngest member of the Senate when he was initially elected to it.

General Council

Vice-president of the General Council of Essonne, 1998–2001

General councillor of Essonne, 1985–1992, 1998–2004. Re-elected in 1998.

Municipal Council

Deputy-mayor of Massy, Essonne, 1983–1995

Municipal councillor of Massy, Essonne, 1983–2001. Re-elected in 1989 and 1995.

Political function

Co-president of the Left Party, 2008–2014

Publications

Mélenchon's published works include:

Mélenchon, Jean-Luc; Amar, Cécile (22 March 2017). De la vertu (in French). Editions de l'Observatoire. ISBN 979-1-03-290059-8.

Mélenchon, Jean-Luc (1 December 2016). L'avenir en commun : Le programme de la France insoumise et son candidat (in French). Seuil. ISBN 978-2021317510.

Mélenchon, Jean-Luc (16 November 2016). Le hareng de Bismarck: Le poison allemand (in French) (paperback ed.). J'ai lu. ISBN 978-2290127940.

Mélenchon, Jean-Luc (8 October 2014). L'ère du peuple (in French). Fayard. ISBN 978-2213685755.

Distinctions

Grand Officer of the Order of May (Argentina, 1988)

Named "Politician of the Year" 2012 by GQ France

Honorary Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Lanús (Argentina) in 2019