Europe Ecology – The Greens
The official launch of the new party, presented as a new political force, was held in Lyon on 9 November 2010. The new party adopted the name Europe Ecology – The Greens ("Europe Écologie Les Verts", EELV). However, the launch of the party was marked by tensions between longtime politicians from the former Green party and new activists from various non-political social movements. Jean-Paul Besset, for example, resigned all his leadership responsibilities in EELV within weeks and denounced a "poisonous Cold War atmosphere". A month later, Philippe Meirieu was named as the first president of the party's new federal council, created by the EELV statutes.