The immobility in which French politics has been plunged for more than five months, agricultural anger, international wars and even the record French debt announcing drastic budgetary restrictions, have punctuated our daily lives for almost a year. . Enough to overshadow a year 2024 also marked by a number of unique events, both locally and nationally. A few days before the transition to 2025, the editorial team is gathering its pens to select the notable moments of the past year.
New prefect in the middle of an agricultural storm
On January 29, 2024, Rémi Bastille was appointed prefect of Doubs. A few weeks earlier, the agricultural discontent turned into anger and blockages throughout France intensified. Barely arrived, Rémi Bastille spent his first day in Étalans to listen and especially hear the recriminations of the peasant world. At his side on this roundabout, Annie Genevard, then deputy for the 5th constituency of Doubs and member of the opposition. Nine months later she became a short-lived Minister of Agriculture, while agricultural anger resumed with a vengeance at the end of the year, between a frozen political situation and the elections of the departmental chambers of Agriculture. More than a year after the start of protests across Europe, on December 6, 2024, Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced that the EU had signed the Mercosur agreement, so decried by France and the agricultural world.
Stratospheric Lou Jeanmonnot
The biathlete from Fourcatier-et-Maison-Neuve won the Petit Globe from the Mass Start in March. Second overall, just 23 points behind Italian Lisa Vittozzi, Lou Jeanmonnot is splashing all her talent into the 2023 – 2024 season, notably with six podiums in the last eight races. The 2024 – 2025 season started again on the same basis, with a first individual victory for its first race of the season, Wednesday December 4. A yellow bib and champion status to assume.
An unexpected dissolution
On June 9, the results of the European elections in France placed the National Rally (RN) well in the lead (31.37% of the votes cast). In response, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly to provide political “clarification”. The opposite happens. Three weeks later, after a left-presidential coalition agreement to block the RN, the French placed the New Popular Front at the top of the results of the early legislative elections with 178 deputies. The hemicycle is more fragmented than ever, without a majority and Emmanuel Macron is waiting for the end of the Games to appoint a Prime Minister. It will finally be Michel Barnier, on September 5. The political uncertainty in France is total and the Barnier government falls at the beginning of December.
The flame gives hope, the Games are a huge success
There were numerous debates on the real cost of the operation, the crossing points selected by the Department of Doubs and even the personalities selected. Nevertheless, the Olympic flame was able to unite the French public wherever it went. On June 25, 2024, massive gatherings took place throughout the departmental route. From Pontarlier in the morning, to the Gare d’Eau park in the evening, the flame rekindles the smiles and joy of the public. The Olympic cauldron lit by Anaïs Bescond in front of nearly 10,000 people in Besançon definitively places Doubs in the history of these historic Games. Little bonus: the Poudrey chasm was included in the “top 3 sites covered by the flame”!
Criticized for their cost and broken promises, the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games remain a huge popular success and offer a bubble of pleasure to the country for two months. With medals, joy… and profit. Many people from Franche-Comté attended the events and a regional Uber driver took the longest ride of these Games: a Besançon – Paris, or 425 kilometers for €760!
80 years of Liberation
Many municipalities in the department commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Liberation throughout the year. Mouthe, Pontarlier, Valdahon, Maîche… In Besançon, many events were organized around September 8. On this same date in 1944, the Americans and the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) restored the freedom of the Bisontins, after four years of German occupation. In this context, a very beautiful book by Orianne Vatin has been published. Entitled “Besançon, from Occupation to Liberation”, its rich documentation allows you to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the Second World War.
Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, symbol of French history
The French are gathering again around Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, the reconstruction of which is presented to the general public on Saturday December 7 and Sunday December 8, 2024. France is rediscovering its Christian history and the world is celebrating the tricolor genius! 2,000 artisans and companions throughout the territory dared to recreate the showcase of the French soul on the Île de la Cité. Among them, the carpenters from the Grande Oye workshop in Lods (see local pages).
But also the Telethon, Métabief, the Northern Lights…
The entire Val de Morteau was once again mobilized around several activities and sporting challenges during the Telethon. In the midst of this excitement, the local mascot is named Léony, a little man suffering from spinal muscular atrophy. When you ask him if everything is okay, he replies with a little smile: “life is beautiful”. Yes Léony, and it’s undoubtedly thanks to people like you who for many are a real ray of sunshine! In 2024, many Franche-Comté residents saw the Northern Lights for the first time, particularly on the night of May 10 to 11, 2024, across the four corners of the region. This year also marks the first winter season in Métabief without the Piquemiette sector. A page in the station’s history is turning, faced with inevitable global warming and a series of failures in its transition over several years. However, hope never dies: a “masterplan” is currently in the hands of local elected officials and could start a new page in tourism across the Pays du Haut-Doubs.
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