Left-wing parties mobilized against the Franco-German summit taking place in Toulon

This Friday, at Place Monsenergue in Toulon, around fifty people responded to the call to demonstrate by the Var federation of the French Communist Party (PCF), in front of the Var maritime prefecture, on the sidelines of the 25th Franco-German Council of Ministers held under the leadership of Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

A missed meeting with the national media, who had finally made the trip to the maritime prefect's residence, at the Cap Brun fort, just above Anse Méjean.

"The summit was initially announced at the maritime prefecture, they went to lock themselves away at Cap Brun, it's a small gathering but politically it remains a strong signal: all the left and progressive forces are mobilized. In Toulon, in the Var, we will not let the war economy put in place by Macron, the rearmament race and the vassalization of France and Europe in the face of the United States pass," denounces Alain Bolla, PCF regional councilor.

Rearmament race and recession

For the Var progressives present (PCF, France Insoumise, EELV, Republican and Socialist Left, Place Publique), the holding of this joint council of ministers in the first French and European military port is not a coincidence, it reflects the military ambitions of the leaders of the two largest economies in the EU.

"In France, the defense budget has increased by 40 billion with the military programming law. At the same time, the Bayrou budget imposes 44.5 billion in drastic cuts in public and social spending on the French population. France is sinking daily into an economic crisis, poverty is spreading, unemployment is rising, more and more employees, retirees, young people are tightening their belts," insists Alain Bolla.

The left-wing parties, on the other hand, are calling for a return to diplomacy and an end to aggressive military alliances. "France and the world do not need a warmongering French government; it is urgent to recognize the Palestinian state and to stop arms supplies to Israel. We want an ecological, social, democratic, and united Europe," adds Stéphane Succo of the Republican and Socialist Left (GRS).

Social justice, ecological transition, strengthening of public services, the protesting unions are calling for an "overthrow" of the established political order.