Florange. Five years after his term in office, Édouard Martin has turned the page on politics.

"The first day I arrived at the European Parliament (Strasbourg), a right-wing MP stopped me and asked if I had my helmet today. I told her I had one in my car and that she could come and get it," recalls Édouard Martin, a Socialist MEP from 2014 to 2019. "A first dig, and not the last," he adds, having long been accustomed to receiving blows.

A leading figure in the Florange union struggle, he led the fight against the closure of ArcelorMittal's blast furnaces for two years. In Parliament, the former CFDT steelworker discovered a world where, he says, "French elected officials constantly reminded me of my status as a worker. Those from other countries, on the other hand, judged...

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