The Head of State will go to the annual meeting of mayors of France on Wednesday in Paris, where he will engage in “wandering” to have direct and strong contact “with elected officials.
by Benoît Floc’h
The distinction may seem byzantine, but it is important. On the occasion of the 104th Congress of Mayors of France, which is held from Monday, 21 to Thursday, November 24 in Paris, the President of the Republic chose to go on Wednesday, November 23, to the “fair” of mayors, but Not at the “Congress”, which is nevertheless a few tens of meters from the first. The “Salon” brings together the 1,200 exhibitors, companies or organizations, who work in the public sphere. The “Congress” is the political body of the event, where the organizer, the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), holds its debates and receives many ministers.
“The obligation does not exist that the president comes each year before the Congress of Mayors, but that he is a stone’s throw away and does not come there is surprising to say the least,” regrets André Laignel, first vice -MF’s delegate president, evoking “a lack of tact”. “There are companies and merchants, and then there are the mayors gathered to work. A choice has been made,” he notes, scathing.
At the Elysée, we highlight the will of Emmanuel Macron to exchange directly with the elected officials. If the Head of State delivered a speech in 2021, it was “both to take stock of the commitments held from the previous five -year term” and to “open the field of projects” of the second, specifies those around him.
“Lowering in front of the difficulty”
This year, “a different political choice” was made, to have “much more direct and strong contact with those who first make the territories”. “The exercise of the congress is a more formal exercise since it is often a discourse. There is fewer exchanges,” said the Presidency of the Republic. Mr. Macron will therefore not say speech, but will engage in a stroll in the spans of the “Salon”, followed by a reception at the Elysée for a thousand mayors, Wednesday evening.
After a first five -year term marked by tense relations between the Head of State and the local elected officials, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne – who will close the Congress of Mayors, Thursday, November 24, by a speech -, endeavors to establish a real dialogue. AMF, moreover, recognizes it. However, concern remains strong. “The state of mind of the mayors is the reduction in the face of the absolutely extraordinary difficulty that we are confronted today, or it is anger, notes André Laignel. And often, they oscillate between the one and the other. We have never experienced such a difficult situation for communities. “
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