By Michel Rose

TOULOUSE in France (Reuters). Toulouse, a vibrant French city, is the unlikely home of Pan-European industrial champ Airbus.

After Melenchon won the Toulouse constituency that hosted the aerospace company’s French presidential election victory, his left-wing alliance now targets it as it tries to deprive President Emmanuel Macron a parliamentary majority.

The candidate for Melenchon spoke at a demonstration in Toulouse by health workers. He said that Melenchon’s NUPES alliance, which unites far left, Socialists, and Greens for only the second time in twenty years, is a “bellwether” for all of France and an example for leftists.

Hadrien Clouet (a 30-year-old academic who helped Melenchon draft his national manifesto) said that all the issues in the country were concentrated here.

Clouet stated that the aerospace industry is recovering from the COVID-19 crise which saw the production of jets slow down dramatically. He also warned briefly about the possibility that Toulouse might become Europe’s Detroit.

He warned, however that records-high inflation as well as the rising cost of living — a theme Macron used to win the presidency election – are still causing problems.

He said that the sector was growing, but wages aren’t catching up. A loud speaker blasts out, “There is a revolution in the air.”

Clouet believes that the French government would take a larger stake in Airbus (currently at 11%), and allow employees to have more say in it.

This would all be part of a significant increase in government control over the economy. There will be nationalisations for utility EDF (EPA) and motorways. Also, there will be a ban against job cuts at dividend-paying companies. The pension age will also go down to 60.

Melenchon (a hard-left populist) has attempted to continue his momentum in the April presidential election.

French presidents have to choose a prime Minister who is capable of controlling a majority within the lower chamber.

According to polls, Macron is seen as an open-marketeer and a representative of the wealthy while the hard-pressed and their families are suffering. This could mean that Macron may not be able to win an absolute majority in Parliament.

It would mean Macron’s Ensemble grouping will have to make deals with other factions. This could hinder him from pursuing his reform agenda. The 577-seat Parliament has only few polls. Sunday’s initial round of voting will show voters where they are at the moment.

TWO-SPEED CITY

Toulouse is the best-known example of France’s aviation engineering talent since World War One. However, there have been no fears about the Detroit effect during the pandemic. The aerospace sector continues to fire on all cylinders.

As elsewhere, however, this has led to a city of two speeds, marred by inequalities among those working in highly-paid aerospace positions and those who struggle to make ends work.

Jerome Fourquet of pollster Ifop, an expert on electoral geography, stated that “in these large cities, the housing prices are very high, and are making it difficult for working class people to afford property.”

These factors are driving a strong dynamic for that movement in large cities where Melenchon cannibalized almost all of the local left-wing votes.

Toulouse was the center of the 2018 “yellow Vests” protest movement. In 2018, many people wore hi-vis jackets after protesters rose against rising petrol prices. Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine prices are now back at the psychological 2 euro per litre threshold, and many feel the pinch.

Florence Druol (37-year-old nursing assistant) is protesting as part of the Healthcare Protest. She drives all over the city taking care of her patients and says she’ll vote for Melenchon.

“Macron took us on a ride. Wearing her yellow vest that had the words “we are still here”, she stated, “Macron has taken us for a ride.”

One tram ride from the red brick facades of the city center, Blagnac is home to the suburb of Blagnac. Melenchon, who won the larger Toulouse 1 constituency, which includes Blagnac in the presidential election, is drawing hostility.

Martine Lepage (57), who is a tobacconist at Avenue d’Andromede in the middle of a new neighborhood near Airbus’s HQ, built to support its engineers’ army, says that “what motivates me” in this election.

Airbus employees would be hurt if the left was not there, she said. She said that these are businesses that require support and a spirit capitalism today, but not only.

Pierre Baudis (Macron’s candidate for the constituency), is worried that some voters take Airbus as a given.

Melenchon’s proposal for Airbus, he says, would be a nationalization, scaring away investors, and angering Germany. Germany holds an equal 11% interest in Airbus.

He stated that the far-left would harm Toulouse, France, France, and Europe. “What would the Germans think if Airbus were nationalized?”