Antoine Waechter

Antoine Waechter is a French politician, leader of the Independent Ecological Movement, born on February 11, 1949 in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin)

Antoine Waechter was born on 11 February 1949 in Mulhouse, (Haut-Rhin). He began activism early, and by 1965 had found the Mulhouse chapter of the Young Friends of Animals. His doctoral dissertation at Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg focused on "ethology and ecology of the Beech Marten." In the late 1960s and 1970s, he fought for the preservation of wildlife and natural areas across Franch, such as reintroducing beavers in Alsace and arguing against road construction or industrial sites in and around Vanoise National Park. He became regional president and then secretary general of the Alsace Federation within the Regional Association for the Protection of Nature (which was the regional branch of the French Federation of Humane Societies of Nature and Environment, now called France Nature Environment).

Joined by Solange Fernex and Henri Jenn in 1973, Waechter participated in the beginnings of one of the first environmental political movements in France: Ecology and Survival (Écologie et Survie). He was also a member of the Ecological Movement founded in after the 1974 presidential candidacy of René Dumont. Beginning with their inception in 1984, Waechter was one of four national spokespeople for the Greens.

Waechter was the face of the l'écologie n'est pas à marier campaign that helped his followers win a majority in the general meeting of the Greens in 1986. This movement within the Greens reaffirmed the strict autonomy as well as ideological and electoral independence following entreaties by the "left of the left" led by Yves Cochet. Because of this intra-party support, Waechter was one of the most influential figures in the Green Party until his departure in 1994. He was also the Green candidate in the presidential election of 1988, receiving 3.78% of the vote in the first round, ranking behind André Lajoinie (French Communist Party) and before Pierre Juquin (splinter of the French Communist Party).

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