Who is Who - Jean-Luc Mélenchon: The winner of the elections in France who does not recognize Kosovo

It was believed that the main battle in the snap parliamentary elections in France would be between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, but the leader of the leftist coalition "New People's Front," Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has upset everyone's calculations and is ready to govern.

“The ballot boxes have decided between two diametrically opposed projects. The New People's Front is ready to govern. The President must bow and acknowledge this defeat. The Prime Minister must resign because he never had the confidence of the National Assembly. The President has a duty to invite the New People's Front to govern. We are ready,” Mélenchon said shortly after the polls closed in France.

He soon explained on his Facebook account that the left has saved France.

“The united left has saved the Republic. It can initiate the ecological and social work that is so desperately needed by our people, our time, our world, our Europe,” Mélenchon stated.

In the French public, he is known as a sharp-tongued politician who is not afraid to say what he thinks.

And he certainly has an opinion on Kosovo.

“The case of Kosovo is one of the examples of how the USA, through its aggressive actions, destabilizes the international order,” he said in 2018.

He explained that the war in Kosovo was a "textbook example of shameless media alignment" with the rhetoric of the American military, and that "brainwashing," saturation of the public with manipulations, and "mind manipulation" yielded results.

“When they bombed the FRY, the USA proclaimed themselves as defenders of minorities and justice, just to justify the military intervention, as they would later do in the case of Iraq. And as they do everywhere. As they usually do to take over a certain area. Here, it is about erasing Serbia from the map of political influence. Of course, it is primarily about war propaganda. To understand that, it is enough to look at the consequences of their bombing,” Mélenchon said.

He also spoke bluntly about the accusations made in a report by former special rapporteur Dick Marty.

“The trade in organs taken from prisoners by the heroic liberators of Kosovo went unnoticed, the establishment of a massive American base in a quasi-state was not commented on. The responsibility of the Albanian mafia, protected by the authorities and some others in smuggling, is not mentioned,” Mélenchon stated.

He ironically noted that Kosovo is almost a perfect example of the success of the manipulative capacities of modern media "soft power."

“Of course, Kosovo's sovereignty is essentially imaginary,” claims this French politician.

If his coalition forms the new government of France, it will be seen whether he will change his stance, which he expressed on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the NATO bombing.

“As for France, considering that it is in NATO, it cannot promote respect for international law and the UN as a framework for dialogue between states,” Mélenchon said.

He was not hesitant to criticize the French authorities when Serbia did not receive its deserved place during the central ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

“We are offended and saddened by the lack of respect towards the Serbian people,” said Mélenchon.

He noted that Serbia lost a quarter of its population, which is "the highest percentage of casualties among all the participants of that war."

"You were the first to stand up to the Nazis, with the March demonstrations in 1941 in Belgrade, with the first resistance organized by Dragoljub Mihailovic in western Serbia, with massive participation in Tito's partisan units," said Mélenchon.

He did not hide his affection for Serbia even in 2017 when he was one of the four presidential candidates.

"Kosovo was unjustly taken, and Serbia should continue to defend its sovereignty with dignity, as it has done so far," he was more than clear.

From today's perspective, many in the EU will criticize him for his views on respecting borders.

"Peace is not prepared by preparing for war; peace is created by working on it. The same goes for Donbas, Macedonia, Kosovo, Scotland, or the reunification of Ireland. Every country could thus make a list of guarantees it requires for peace to be respected at its borders," said Mélenchon.

From Lecturer to Professor

Born in 1951 in Tangier, today's Morocco, Mélenchon moved with his mother to France in 1962 after his parents' divorce.

He graduated in 1972 with a degree in modern literature and then philosophy from the University of Besançon in the Burgundy region.

He soon joined the International Communist Organization (OCI), and as he became a father at the age of 22, he first worked as a proofreader in a printing house and then in a watch factory.

Later, he claimed that he also worked at a gas station "on the outskirts" of Besançon.

However, his first more serious job was as a modern literature teacher and then as a French language professor.

He also worked as a journalist for a magazine where he signed as Jean-Louis Mula and as a cartoonist for a Catholic weekly where his pseudonym was “Moz”.

In the late 1970s, he founded La Tribune d’ Jura - a monthly magazine of the Socialist Federation of Jura.

Eight years later, he moved to Essonne, where, at the request of the then mayor of Massy, Claude Germon, he became his chief of staff and founded the weekly bulletin "Data and Arguments".

From 1993 to 1995, he was the political director of the Socialist Party weekly Samedi.

He began building his political career in 1976 when he joined the Socialist Party. Seven years later, he became a municipal councilor in Massy, and in 1986, 1995, and 2004, he was a national senator for the Essonne department.

In Lionel Jospin's government and the Ministry of Education led by Jack Lang, he was the Minister for Vocational Education from 2000 to 2002.

He was part of the left wing of the Socialist Party until 2008 and the congress in Reims, after which he founded a new "Left Party" (Parti de Gauche).

Until 2014, he was the president and one of the two co-presidents.

He gained public attention in 2010 during the demonstrations against pension system reforms when he was a frequent guest in the media.

Mélenchon founded the leftist movement "La France Insoumise" (Unsubmissive France) in February 2016.

He participated in the presidential elections in 2012, 2017, and 2022.

In the 2012 elections, he won 11.1 percent of the votes and was fourth. Five years later, he won 19.6 percent of the votes, and two years ago, he won 22.2 percent of the votes, just 0.8 percent less than the then-second-placed Marine Le Pen.

His Facebook page states that he is divorced and has a daughter.