“Demonstrations, appeal of the decision… We have tried everything but the department remains deaf to the distress of our territory and the irresponsible consequences of its decision,” explains Christian Bussat, mayor of Dieulefit, a commune in Drôme. Since Wednesday, he has started a hunger strike with other elected officials and local residents. The reason? The department has decided to no longer finance the “zero long-term unemployed territory” project, although it was validated in 2022.
“Nearly eighty people could have found their way back to work. What do we tell them? That it's a typo? ! », the mayor is indignant. The deliberation, voted unanimously minus two votes at the time, sent to the Ministry of Labor, actually contains a typo: the CCDB (community of communes Dieulefit-Bourdeaux), mentioned three times, appears a fourth time under CCVD ( community of communes of Val-de-Drôme in Biovallée), in the text. It is then necessary to vote on this deliberation again in council, but it is not on the agenda for the next meeting.
A “betrayal for the citizens”
In fact, the Drôme departmental council, taking advantage of this error, thus “withdrew its support for the project”, no longer wishing to finance it. President Marie-Pierre Mouton justifies her decision by “doubts about the viability of the project” and also mentions “financial reasons”, linked “to recent government announcements”.
“It is a betrayal for citizens deprived of employment for too long, who were beginning to regain hope,” assures Christian Bussat in a press release. With Philippe Berrard, the mayor of Montjoux, they denounce an “irresponsible” decision in this area where the unemployment rate reaches almost 10%.
-Our employment file
“And it’s a time trial that begins. Without the support of the department the project cannot be authorized. However, at the end of February, the State will no longer authorize any new projects,” indicates Magali Buisson, first deputy at Dieulefit, stressing that elected officials and citizens have been working on this issue for more than four years.
As a reminder, this project aims to restore, through local action, sustainable employment to people who have been deprived of it for a long time through activities useful to the region.
