Hunting down the Phrygians. Who they are, how they operate and where the officials preparing Mélenchon’s rise to power meet

Paris. There are currently around eighty of them, but they are already present in all ministries and the main institutions of the French senior civil service. They are the ‘Phrygiens’, a circle of senior civil servants who, anonymously, are supporting Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s campaign for next year’s presidential election, producing memos, reports and studies to bolster the credibility of the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI). Formed in May, this small group of senior civil servants sympathetic to the ideas of the French radical left-wing party operates confidentially via a Telegram channel and meets in person once a month. “We must be discreet, so as not to jeopardise our careers,” one of the members told France Info, asking to remain anonymous due to the obligation of neutrality that every civil servant is required to uphold. The name “Frigi” pays homage to the French Revolution, when the sans-culottes began wearing the Phrygian cap as a symbol of freedom, because the aim of these senior civil servants is to prepare for another revolution: the rise of Mélenchon and his Sixth Republic, “by lending credibility to the movement’s ability to govern and implement radical measures”, the source explained to France Info. The last two reports produced by the Phrygians are devoted to ecoregions – one of the flagship measures of Mélenchon’s programme – and to breaking up media monopolies, another promise made by the LFI leader who, should he win the 2027 presidential election, would like to dismantle large media conglomerates such as that of the Breton magnate Vincent Bolloré, which he considers incompatible with media pluralism. The documents were drafted in complete secrecy, the same source insisted, because there is “a certain hostility towards LFI amongst senior civil servants”.

Like any circle, the Frigi also have their own recruitment method. “It often happens in front of the coffee machine or during chats amongst colleagues, when you sense a certain ‘Insoumis’ sensibility in them,” one of the Frigi told France Info. They have a strong presence at Bercy and the Quai d’Orsay – the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – but also within the Bank of France, in senior civil service roles in the hospital and local government sectors, as well as within the European Commission and the diplomatic service. Mélenchon and his supporters, often accused of “economic amateurism” by the French business and financial world due to their radical proposals, aim to normalise the political affiliation of senior civil servants to their own political camp, whilst at the same time putting their ideas to the test within the state apparatus. In May, there were around thirty Frigi members; today, their numbers have almost tripled. “We have excellent contacts; there are people working for us within the highest institutions,” another source from Mélenchon’s party assured Le Parisien. The ‘Frigi’, therefore, act as discreet advisers to refine Avenir en commun, the name of the programme with which Mélenchon, aged 75, is convinced he will win the Élysée. The latest polls ahead of the presidential election look favourable for the LFI leader. According to the Toluna-Harris Interactive survey published yesterday, Mélenchon is, for the first time, in an excellent position to qualify for the run-off against the right-wing identitarian candidate Marine Le Pen, buoyed by a momentum that has enabled him to draw level with the centrist candidate Édouard Philippe in the voting intentions (16 per cent).

The intermediary between the Frigi and the Mélenchonist party is Clémence Guetté, head of LFI’s programme and co-chair of the Institut La Boétie, a think tank close to the radical left movement. In each of his presidential campaigns, Mélenchon has been able to rely on senior officials who share his views, ready to implement his programme should he be elected. For years, his friend and State Councillor Bernard Pignerol, who possesses extensive experience and a vast network of contacts within the administration, has worked towards this end. But now Mélenchon can draw on a veritable circle of devotees of his ideas, ready to do anything to get him into the Élysée Palace.