EDITORIAL. Olivier Faure re-elected First Secretary of the Socialist Party: the Socialist Party remains in an ideological crisis that affects the entire European left.

With 50.9% of the vote, Olivier Faure won the internal elections on Thursday over his challenger, the mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, and is re-elected for a two-year term.

In office for seven years already, Olivier Faure, re-elected on Thursday, June 6, could catch up with the three longevity record holders: Lionel Jospin, nine years, François Mitterrand, 10 years, and François Hollande, 11 years. Duration is, moreover, just about the only thing Olivier Faure shares with this prestigious trio. François Mitterrand, Lionel Jospin, and François Hollande embody socialist government, with its share of successes and failures. Faure's management is that of a party recovered in the aftermath of the 2017 debacle and which has continued to wither away ever since.

The Socialist Party now has only 39,000 members, not even enough to fill the Parc des Princes. The party is confined to opposition, has lost its leadership on the left, and its survival seems to depend solely on the indulgence of its partners, primarily the rebels.

By refusing to censure the Bayrou government, Olivier Faure has broken with the rebels . But for how long? In the event of dissolution, doubts remain. Will the Socialist Party not renew ties with Jean-Luc Mélenchon if he believes this is the only way to save his group in the Assembly?

In fact, it is the question of the usefulness, and therefore of the very existence of the PS which is at stake, at the moment when the right is regaining its colours, winning some partial legislative elections. It has been resurrected because it has chosen to participate in the government and has discovered a new presidential candidate: Bruno Retailleau .

The Socialist Party, still lacking a charismatic leader, is plunging back into the twists and turns of an interminable discussion about a hypothetical primary, going "from François Ruffin to Raphaël Glucksmann," as Olivier Faure put it. In short, the party is losing itself in party discussions rather than developing a discourse geared toward the French people.

In reality, the Socialist Party is running out of ideas , projects, and even stories to tell the French. And this is an ideological crisis that doesn't just affect our country. It is hitting the reformist left hard almost everywhere in Europe. Social democracy is now often overtaken by the extreme right, as in Germany, or even completely liquidated, as in Italy or Central Europe. As we have just seen in Romania or Poland , this disappearance leaves only the conservative right on one side and the populists on the other.

Beyond the fate of the French Socialist Party's small shop, it is the future of social democracy that is in question. After having contributed significantly to building the welfare state, social protection, and European integration, it may have accomplished its historic mission. And that it is now destined to pass the baton to others...