Benoît Hamon

Benoît Hamon proposed legalising cannabis under a state-regulated distribution system, considering the enforcement-based approach ineffective and seeking to deprive the illicit economy of revenue. The proposal triggered substantial debate within the left and during the presidential campaign.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

Universal basic income was Benoît Hamon's flagship proposal. Critics estimated that its initial version, ultimately providing €750 to all adults, could cost several hundred billion euros. During the primary and presidential campaign, Hamon repeatedly revised the timetable, amount and range of beneficiaries.

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Directly implicated

Following his heavy first-round defeat in the 2017 presidential election and the Socialist Party crisis, Benoît Hamon announced in July that he was leaving the PS to launch his own movement. The split crystallised competing accusations of betrayal and responsibility for the collapse of the governing left.

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Political responsibility

Benoît Hamon proposed taxing wealth created through automation and robots to finance part of social protection and his universal basic income plan. Economists criticised the risk of discouraging investment, productivity and the modernisation of businesses.

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Directly implicated

Benoît Hamon concluded an agreement with Yannick Jadot providing in particular for an accelerated phase-out of nuclear power and opposition to Notre-Dame-des-Landes. The agreement strengthened his environmentalist wing but heightened tensions with Socialist leaders favouring a more government-oriented approach.

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Political responsibility

Benoît Hamon attempted to negotiate a rapprochement with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, but the discussions failed. The left consequently entered the first round deeply divided, fuelling strategic controversy over Hamon's ability to unite forces beyond his agreement with the environmentalists.

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Political responsibility

During the 2015 regional election campaign, Benoît Hamon posted a tweet calling Nicolas Miguet a 'fraudster'. Miguet filed a complaint for public insult, and Hamon was formally placed under investigation in December 2016, a development that became controversial again during the 2017 presidential campaign.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Benoît Hamon was one of the leading Socialist rebels opposing the Labour Law. He supported an attempt to table a left-wing no-confidence motion following the government's use of Article 49.3, against a government from his own political family.

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Political responsibility

At the height of the summer 2016 controversy over burkini bans, Benoît Hamon described the debate as 'completely missing the point' and said it gave the impression that France had a problem with Islam and Muslims. His position brought him into conflict with Manuel Valls and part of the left.

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Personally implicated

Benoît Hamon opposed enshrining deprivation of nationality in the Constitution following the 2015 attacks and voted against the scheme advocated by Manuel Valls. During the same debate, he supported an amendment to grant voting rights in local elections to non-EU foreign nationals legally resident in France.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

As Education Minister in 2014, Benoît Hamon relaxed the school timetable reform inherited from Vincent Peillon to allow local experiments. The measure did not eliminate opposition from some mayors, teachers and parents.

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Political responsibility

Under Benoît Hamon, the government did not extend the experimental 'ABCD de l'égalité' scheme nationwide under that name. The scheme had been targeted by a campaign falsely accusing schools of teaching an alleged 'gender theory'. It was replaced with a broader programme of training and teaching resources.

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Political responsibility

At the Fête de la Rose in Frangy-en-Bresse in August 2014, Benoît Hamon joined Arnaud Montebourg in calling for a change of economic direction and criticising François Hollande and Manuel Valls's policies. He was not reappointed to the second Valls government.

State of the evidence

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Political responsibility