“It is not for me to say that everything is fine”, former government spokesperson Prisca Thévenot in support of the Gard Food Bank

You are returning to Nîmes, this time as sponsor of the collection for the Gard Food Bank. What does this mean to you?

Indeed, every three months I come to Gard! Nîmes is a city that I am fond of for personal reasons, but I am also attached to the local associative fabric and to a certain number of actors in civil society. Last year, at this time, I had the opportunity to participate in a Food Bank collection and what should have lasted a few minutes ended up lasting several hours. We became a little friendly with the organizers and that's how I was asked to become the godmother for this year. Which, of course, I accepted.

The subject comes up often, but Emmanuel Macron's promise to get the homeless off the streets is, it is clear, not kept. Worse, associations, like the Food Bank, must face ever more demands while they too are starving due to lack of resources. How do you analyze this situation?

Two things. On the associations which are starving – and here, I am taking up my old role as Secretary of State for Youth and Community Life and spokesperson, also in charge of community life – yes, our associations are meeting a certain number subjects whether financial or administrative. On the financial aspect, the State but also local authorities were able to put €20 million more on the table last year thanks to work between the government and the national assembly. On the administrative side, we have also made progress to reduce the time that associations spend today on paperwork rather than being in the field. We passed a Bataillon law, unanimously in both chambers, to remove a certain number of administrative obstacles.

Does he say this to tell you “move along, there’s nothing to see”? No not at all. But the public authorities are not abandoning the associations, we are here to move forward and support them as much as we can. And it is clear that there are still improvements to be made.

As for precariousness, one of the first precariousnesses that we tackled with Emmanuel Macron is to allow everyone to find a job. We noted that there was an inevitability in our country, that of having mass unemployment which weakens and endangers a certain number of households. We worked to ensure that it no longer existed. The other step is to ensure that work pays better to combat new precariousness with workers who cannot make ends meet. We must continue to act, in a complex national, European and global economic context. For me it is not a question of saying that everything is going well, but of saying that together we can get there and that it is, from a political point of view, thanks to a very fine mesh and a close complementarity between the national and the local that we will be able to respond to the extremely important concerns of a certain number of residents, particularly in Gard.

Politically, you have been Secretary of State, government spokesperson, now a Member of Parliament. Do you see new challenges in the idea of ​​serving your country?

We act for our country from there we are in fact. From 2017 to 2022, I served my country by being an active volunteer activist. As an MP, I think that my capacity for action is just as legitimate and must be strong. When, as an MP, we heard the Minister of Sports and Community Life within the framework of the Culture and Education Committee, I alerted him to the need not to go back on the budgets which had been increased the previous year. last year, or even increase them further. It is an investment to be able to support those who care for those in need on a daily basis.

Today, the volunteer crisis affects all sectors of community life. How to remedy this problem?

I don't know if there is a crisis, but volunteering is changing. Today, we no longer volunteer as we did a few years ago: our lives, our society, have evolved. Today, some people want to get involved, but by giving one or two hours here and there. We must therefore support this and this is the challenge of the Bataillon law, which also works on corporate sponsorship. Because many companies want to support causes and free up their employees, when they can, so that they can get involved in neighborhood associations. We also have committed youth, of whom we can be proud in France, but who sometimes do not know where to turn. This is why we created the Jeveuxaider.gouv.fr platform to guide them. The culture of commitment is always important but it requires that we can evolve to recognize it.

What other issues do you plan to engage with during your mandate?

I have another subject that is close to my heart, which I share with the head of Renaissance in Gard Valérie Rouverand, it is women's health and, at the same time, the demographic issue. In 2023, there will be fewer than 700,000 births in France. A historically low figure that has been falling significantly for several years. We must react and act. A demographic crisis has growing power and human challenges. For those who want a family and encounter insurmountable obstacles: the cost of living, professional insecurity, reduced fertility or even the subject of climate anxieties. We must be able to put all of this on the table and move forward without totems or taboos.

The Renaissance Congress arrives in a tumultuous political context on the national level. How do you approach it?

The Renaissance political family will continue to be a pole of stability in this tumultuous context. We could have engaged in a fratricidal war, but we are showing that political interest and the ideas we defend for our country come above everything else. It is a pride to be a member of this political family with a leader who leads us together, at his side, and who is Gabriel Attal.