Editing The Greens (France) (section)

===Opposition and merger===
Following the return to opposition benches in 2002, [[Gilles Lemaire]] assumed the position of national secretary. His tenure is marked by a period of internal strife in the party. Lemaire was in turn replaced by [[Yann Wehrling]], who seemingly united a majority of the membership under a text outlining the future direction that the party hoped to pursue. He was succeeded by [[Cécile Duflot]] in 2006, who was the party's youngest National Secretary at the age of 31. She announced her resignation in May 2012 after being appointed to the new cabinet appointed by President [[François Hollande]].

Les Verts had six [[Member of the European Parliament|MEPs]] elected in the 2004 European Election with 8.43% of the vote.

In the hugely divisive 2005 referendum on the [[European Constitution]], the Greens campaigned for a Yes vote.

In the [[2007 French presidential election]], les Verts nominated [[Dominique Voynet]]. Her low score of 1.57% in the first round was the party's worst electoral result, and the French ecologist's worst showing since [[René Dumont]] in the [[1974 French presidential election|1974]]. The party refused an electoral deal with the [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialists]] for the [[2007 French legislative election|June legislative election]]. However, the three Green incumbents, [[Noël Mamère]], [[Yves Cochet]], and [[Martine Billard]] had no PS opposition in their respective constituencies. While the Green's vote share was down from 2002, it won a fourth seat in [[Nantes]] where [[François de Rugy]] defeated a conservative UMP incumbent. The Greens now had four seats in the Assembly and sat with the [[French Communist Party|PCF]] in the [[Democratic and Republican Left]] group.

In the [[2009 European Parliament election in France|2009 European Parliament election]], the party was an integral part of the [[Europe Écologie]] coalition, led by [[Daniel Cohn-Bendit]], which gained 8 seats for a total of 14 on a 16.3% of the vote. Since November 2010, it merged with the coalition to become [[Europe Ecology – The Greens]].