The Robert-Schuman Foundation, better known as the center for research and studies on Europe, will organize a major event this Friday around Jacques Barrot, with three round tables discussing in turn his national commitment, his European action and even its local roots in Haute-Loire. In his native department, for the ten years of his disappearance today, no tribute is officially planned…
“He has always made Haute-Loire his priority”
Only the La Chaise-Dieu festival, of which he was president as a great lover of classical music, should devote a day for its 59th edition, next summer. Very little for a man who was the leading figure in Haute-Loire for several decades, contributing from the end of the 1960s until his death to the development of this long-forgotten territory.
Road infrastructure with the RN 88, arrival of large companies like Michelin, Merck, growth of industry in the east of the department or creation of the Hôtel du Département in the premises of the former general hospital, Barrot was a builder , a “visionary”, according to those close to him who today regret seeing this legacy so visible, passed over in silence on December 3.
Mayor of Yssingeaux, staunch deputy and president of the General Council, Jacques Barrot was the “boss” of the department for several decades, putting his national responsibilities at the service of his territory. “He always made Haute-Loire his priority,” testifies Madeleine Dubois who was his collaborator, as parliamentary attaché then chief of staff. There was an unbreakable bond with his department. »
