The last month has marked a turning point in the French left’s history. After years of infighting, in May, the Greens, Socialists, and Communists joined forces with France Insoumise to form the Nouvelle Union Populaire écologique et sociale (NUPES). Thanks to this unprecedented agreement, these forces will be running joint candidates in each constituency in the parliamentary elections slated for June 12 and 19. In just days, NUPES debunked pundits’ oft-repeated claim that different left-wing movements were irreconcilable. More than that, it showed the possibility of the Left uniting behind a bold and ambitious agenda, largely based on France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s presidential campaign.

With NUPES polling neck and neck with neoliberal president Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble vehicle ahead of the first round today, the establishment has resorted to fearmongering to try to discredit the newly formed coalition. In scenes reminiscent of the US political establishment’s reaction to the rise of Bernie Sanders, former prime minister and Macron supporter Manuel Valls decried the coalition as “against police and security [as well as] economic growth and jobs” while pro-Macron MP Aurore Bergé warned of “an economic implosion” if NUPES triumphed.

NUPES faces such demonization because it threatens to upend a status quo that has long only benefited elites. With measures like lowering the retirement age to sixty, increasing the monthly minimum wage to €1500, implementing price freezes for basic necessities, constitutionalizing certain environmental principles, and replacing the current presidentialist Fifth Republic, NUPES’ proposals are as far-reaching as they are ambitious. Altogether, they lay the groundwork for a major social, economic, environmental, and democratic shift if NUPES succeeds in winning a majority in the National Assembly.