After the municipal elections in 2020 in Rosny-sous-Bois, the legislative elections in Loiret in 2022, Shanon Seban has started the European election campaign well. “We have already welcomed almost all of our MEPs, our Europe Together delegation to the European Parliament [ndlr, laquelle rassemble 22 eurodéputés Français et 1 Italien au sein du groupe Renew Europe] and around ten ministers“, assures the president of the presidential party in Seine-Saint-Denis since January 2023.
In the polls, however, Valérie Hayer’s list is struggling to take off, more than ten points behind the RN list. But not enough to demoralize Shanon Seban. “The campaign is starting to take hold little by little. The European election is being decided in a very short time, a month at most. Today, the polls are not at all representative. We have just revealed our program and our running mates“, underlines the young woman.
Shanon Seban wants to believe it. “There is a lack of awareness of the ballot. We have to do a lot of educational work, take the time to explain what the European Parliament is.“, she explains.
The young woman introduces herself as “convinced European“. Having worked in the offices of Olivier Véran in 2020, then of Bruno Le Maire from April 2021 to May 2022, she was previously a collaborator of Stéphane Sejourné, then MEP (now Minister of Foreign Affairs). “I have a strong sense of service, I have Europe in my heart. I have done all my professional experience and training on European issues.“, she summarizes.
To show what Europe is for, Renaissance 93 broadcasts short videos on social networks. “Europe is a reality close to home and not just nice words. The energy renovation at Oum Kalthoum college in Montreuil, which has just been completed, was carried out thanks to European funds“, she takes as an example. The same goes for the development of new cycle paths in Pantin or for the renewal of the Erasmus + program for students in the department. “Our list can be based on an assessment: it has been seven years since President Emmanuel Macron was elected. It draws on very diverse skills and expertise with strong representation of the territory. We also have new faces that I am proud to be a part of“, also defends the candidate who appears 28th on Valérie Hayer’s list.
“I am proud to represent Seine-Saint-Denis“, insists Shanon Seban born in Bagnolet. “This territory is close to my heart because it is representative of our country: it is the diversity of cultures and religions, it is secularism and youth. 40% of the population is under 25 years old. We welcome 80% of investments from the Olympic Games. This is what I also try to make understood: it is a territory of hope which proves that living together is possible. Of course, there are problems of poverty, unemployment and delinquency. But what I want to show is this ambitious youth, and that a meritocracy is possible. There is no social determinism. I made myself“, she emphasizes.
Shanon Seban was not predestined for politics. “I am a woman of grassroots, commitment and combat. I don’t come from a political family. No one has a baccalaureate at my house. I was born into a multicultural family. My father was born in Algeria, my mother was born in Morocco. All of this contributes to my identity“, she emphasizes. “Nobody believed it when I got involved in politics. I lost my dad in 2019, but a few days later I was on the ground for the municipal elections. I always wanted to feel useful in the service of my fellow citizens“, she confides again. Born in Bagnolet, it was in Rosny-sous-Bois, the town where she grew up and still lives, that she earned her first stripes in politics. She was then elected on the list of the former mayor (LR), Claude Capillon. On the municipal council, she now sits in opposition, but as an independent elected official.
In this European election, Shanon Seban reserves her sharpest attacks on the RN lists of Jordan Bardella and LFI of Manon Aubry. “Our list makes the difference because it is the only pro-European one. Do we want to preserve this space of peace and solidarity or do we want to fall into the obscurantism which is today very clearly embodied by the RN and whose connections with the Putin regime? no longer needs to be demonstrated?“, she asks.
For her, “certain lists have made these European elections a stepping stone for [presidentielles] of 2027. I find this not only dishonest, but extremely dangerous and selfish“, she castigates, targeting “Jean-Luc Meléchon and Rima Hassan who decided to place the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the heart of their campaign. One month before the election, I am still waiting for LFI’s proposals on Europe“, she considers. She deplores in passing a “variable geometry indignation” from LFI. “Where were their elected officials when in 2014 Bashar El Assad used chemical weapons against his own population?” A positioning which affects Shanon Seban all the more, as it fuels divisions in French society in a context of rising anti-Semitism, of which she herself has been a victim on social networks (attacks for which she filed a complaint). “I am Jewish. But for me religion is part of the private sphere. I made the fight against anti-Semitism one of my fights well before October 7 [ndlr date de l’attaque du Hamas en Israël]. But just as much as against racism, Islamophobia, homophobia and, ultimately, hatred of others“, she wants to clarify. “Are we talking about the future of Europe or that of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The challenge of the June 9 election is to defend our record on the issues of economic sovereignty, on the internal security of our borders, on the construction of a powerful Europe, whether from the point of view of health or of the defense“, she enjoins.
Read also:
