Unable, at this stage, to agree on a single candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the left-wing parties could be tempted to turn to a personality from civil society. Between the reformist trade unionist Laurent Berger and the committed banker Matthieu Pigasse, two very different profiles emerge as possible points of convergence in a political landscape that is still fragmented.
Failing to agree on a single candidate from their ranks, the only possibility at present to be in the second round of the presidential election, can the left-wing parties agree to choose a personality from civil society who would represent them? In this political-fiction scenario, two men could be able to embody unity by being at the barycenter of all political families. One thinks about it more and more openly; the other, who has refused in the past to occupy such a place, makes himself desired without completely closing the door.
One is an investment banker and press boss; the other is a former trade unionist and director of the Mutualist Institute for the Environment and Solidarity. One is called Matthieu Pigasse and the other Laurent Berger. Two men of the left with different profiles but who have in common their fight against the far right and a detailed understanding of current dynamics on the left: the radicalism carried by France Insoumise and, to a lesser extent, the PCF, the ecological social democracy carried by the PS, the PRG or the Environmentalists.
Pigasse wants to “weigh as much as possible”
On paper, Matthieu Pigasse presents a decisive advantage: he no longer closes the door. The investment banker – who will restructure Venezuela’s debt – says he wants to “have as much influence as possible on the 2027 presidential election” in order to prevent a victory for the National Rally. Without announcing his candidacy, he repeats that he “never excludes anything” and says he is available to socialist, environmentalist and communist leaders. His reasoning is based on a simple idea: only a form of consensus could justify his entry into the arena. In other words, his candidacy would only make sense as an instrument of unity.
This posture allows him to speak to several sensitivities. Network man, entrepreneur, media owner (Combat group) but also historical figure of the cultural left, Pigasse could appear as a point of balance between reformists and supporters of a more anti-establishment line. His main handicap, however, remains his total lack of electoral experience, his controversial network and the risk of embodying the Parisian elites more than a popular dynamic.
Shepherd capable of healing ideological divides
Laurent Berger presents the opposite profile. For years, the former general secretary of the CFDT has methodically refused all requests. Matignon yesterday, the Élysée today: his response remains negative. However, the calls are increasing. On the left, many see in him a personality capable of healing ideological divides and reconnecting with a culture of compromise that has disappeared from public debate. Its strength lies precisely in this reluctance. Berger appears neither as a political professional, nor as a man in search of power. According to several left-wing leaders, this distance nourishes its credibility. His image built during the conflict over pensions, his attachment to social dialogue and his refusal of partisan logic give him a unique status in a discredited political landscape.
The central question remains: would one or the other agree to submit an appeal application? For Pigasse, the answer seems to depend on a prior agreement from left-wing parties. For Berger, it would only become possible in a context of democratic emergency marked by the prospect of an announced victory for the RN. In both cases, their emergence would be less a sign of their personal ambition than that of the persistent incapacity of the left to produce its natural candidate itself.
