French Socialist Party, hard-left alliance form alliance for June vote

On May 1, 2022, a French far-left party leader and former candidate for the presidential election Jean-Luc Melenchon arrives at a May Day demonstration in Paris, France. LEWIS JOLY FIIE AP PARIS - France's Socialist Party and the hard-left La France Insoumise Party have reached an agreement in principle to form an alliance for the June parliament vote, LFI lawmaker Adrien Quatennens told Franceinfo on Wednesday.

The coalition deal, shaped under the leadership of hard leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, is an attempt to deprive newly re-elected President Emmanuel Macron of a majority in parliament on June 12 -- 19 and block his pro-business agenda.

Melenchon, a radical eurosceptic, has managed to unite the Greens, the Communists and the Socialists under a new banner that could raise eyebrows across the EU, as its platform aims to challenge the main tenets of the bloc's economic policies.

We can beat Emmanuel Macron, and we can do it with a majority to govern for a radical program, Quatennens said.

A Socialist Party source said there was agreement on who would run in what constituency and on the overall strategy, but negotiators still needed to finalize talks on the program itself.

The deal would have to be approved by the Socialist Party'sSocialist Party's national committee.

LFI previously struck similar agreements with the French Greens and the Communists, creating a united front under the leadership of the hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon.

The deal will unite parties that have run separately in the elections since the left-green coalition deal of 1997 -- 2002.

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The pro-European socialists had been the main target of negotiations at the headquarters of the eurosceptic Melenchon's party after days of negotiations.

The latest Harris Interactive poll shows the two sides are neck and neck, with a united left and an alliance between Macron's party and the conservatives seen garnering 33 percent of the legislative vote. This could still be a majority of seats in France's two round election system, according to projections.

Melenchon's success in striking a deal in principle with the Socialists, the former dominant force on the left, will mark a turning point for a party that gave the country two presidents since World War II and has been a driving force for European integration.

Melenchon, who broke from the Socialist Party in 2008 after failing to dilute its pro-EU stance, wants to disobey the bloc's rules on budget and competition issues and challenge its free-market principles. He wants France to leave NATO.

Former President Francois Hollande, who said it could mark the end of a pro-EU force on the left, criticized the decision by Socialist party leaders to negotiate a deal with Melenchon.

The Socialists had little leeway in the talks. Their candidate, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, garnered a meager 1.75 percent of the votes cast in last month's presidential ballot. They still control many local authorities.

Plans to reduce the retirement age to 60, raise minimum wage and cap prices on essential products are among the policies of the new alliance, which will run under Social and Ecological People's Union.