At the start of 2025, Elian Cellier, secretary of the Gard Rhodanien section of the French Communist Party (PCF), presented his wishes in front of a large audience. In a dense and committed speech, he took stock of the past year and shared his perspectives for 2025. Between local concerns and national issues, this meeting highlighted the past and future struggles of the PCF.
A look at 2024: challenges and injustices
Looking back on the significant events of 2024, Elian Cellier discussed international crises, such as the wars in Ukraine and Palestine, climate disasters and rising inequalities. He also denounced the increasing privatization of public finances, citing as an example the financing of the Paris Olympic Games and the restoration of Notre-Dame by private funds.
“Yes, there is money, but it is poorly distributed,” he insisted, pointing in particular to the exorbitant salaries in football or the financial support of tech giants to controversial political figures.
Public health: a system to rebuild
The dysfunctions of the health system occupied a central place in the speech. Through personal and local anecdotes, Elian Cellier denounced the worrying state of hospitals and the shortage of doctors. He underlined the dramatic consequences of this situation, in particular the disappearance of his comrade Alain Laval-Gilly, due to lack of medical follow-up.
“We are the seventh world power, but how many French people no longer have a doctor? » he was indignant, calling for mobilization to defend the public hospital and access to local care.
Memory and resistance: figures to honor
-In a year marking the 80th anniversary of the Liberation, the PCF recalled the importance of collective memory. Elian Cellier welcomed the entry into the Pantheon of Missak and Mélinée Manouchian and pleaded for the Collège du Bosquet in Bagnols to bear the name of Madeleine Riffaud, a great resistance fighter who recently died. He also reiterated his request to inaugurate a Damian Ruiz square, in homage to this deportee from Bagnolais who survived Dachau.
Local issues: a critique of current policies
At the local level, the secretary of the PCF strongly criticized the management of the municipal team and the Gard Rhodanien agglomeration. He denounced choices that he considers contrary to collective interests, such as the controversial Domaine de Brès project or the blunders in the management of the multimodal exchange hubs (PEM) of Bagnols and Pont-Saint-Esprit. “Without the communists, there would be no trains in Bagnols,” he recalled.
2025: a year of struggle and mobilization
Finally, Elian Cellier called for the union of the left with a view to the 2026 municipal elections and for a general mobilization to face the social and economic challenges of the coming year. He also insisted on the importance of structuring projects for the territory, particularly around the port and the L'Ardoise station.
Conclusion: “Let’s mobilize”
With realism but without resignation, the PCF Bagnolais intends to continue to defend social gains and propose concrete alternatives. “In all areas, let's mobilize in 2025. There is so much to do,” concluded Elian Cellier, sending a message of hope and combativeness to his comrades and to all the inhabitants of Gard Rhodanien.
