With one year to go before the March 2026 elections, the Greens are entering the final stretch with an almost existential challenge: to prove that the "green wave" of 2020 was not a fluke, but a genuine political cycle. In the major cities they have won (Lyon, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Tours, Besançon, Annecy, Grenoble), the incumbent teams want to present themselves as established managers, not as passing activists. The message is clear, almost hammered home: we know how to govern. In Lyon, Grégory Doucet has chosen a frontal attack against Jean-Michel Aulas, the right-wing and centrist candidate, highlighting the cost of his promises. In Poitiers, Léonore Moncond'huy speaks of a "controlled" budget trajectory, while her opponents describe a "catastrophic" picture. Behind the figures lies a battle for image: seriousness versus slogans, continuity versus a radical municipal overhaul.
Finances "under control", streets calmed... and very real anger
But the campaign won't just be fought on spreadsheets: it will be fought in the streets, quite literally. Low-emission zones, car reduction, bike lanes, pedestrianization, greening, advertising restrictions, housing policies… these emblematic measures become so many ammunition for the opposition, which denounces a “punitive environmentalism” and presses where it hurts: traffic, commerce, cleanliness, safety. The Greens, for their part, respond with pragmatism and public health, cleaner air, more livable cities, and remind everyone that the 2020 platforms gave them a mandate. There remains another trap, more silent but formidable: left-wing coalitions, sometimes composite, where socialists, La France Insoumise, and communists can turn a nomination into a minefield.
