Bartolomé Lenoir, the UDR deputy for Creuse, launched at the end of October an online petition “against the ultra left in Creuse”. In his text, he highlighted the former vacation center of Lac du Chammet, in Faux-la-Montagne, “ideal landaccording to him, for the installation of what could be called a ZAD“. An initiative to which the mayor immediately respondedCatherine Moulin, by filing a complaint for the dissemination of false information likely to disturb public order. The prosecutor dismissed it. But the Fall municipality did not stop there.
A manifesto sent to all Creuse town halls
In mid-November, the Creuse MP questioned the Minister of the Interior on this subject in the National Assembly. “We said to ourselves that we couldn't not react confides the city councilor. We were more of a showcase of what was cool and made it possible to best welcome new residents and there he said that to the National Assembly! But what a false image he gives of us! What are we building in people's imaginations when we say things like that? “. The municipal council of Faux-la-Montagne therefore drafted a manifesto for respect for republican freedoms in Creuse “to share it with other elected officials, because we felt that there was a drift“.
The text was sent to all Creuse town halls. It has already been signed by around thirty municipalities, mayors but also municipal councilors, and not only on the Millevaches plateau but also in Aubusson, Guéret, La Souterraine, Bourganeuf, Saint Fiel, Chéniers, Bonnat, Auzances to name a few. The president of the Agglomeration of Grand Guéret, Eric Corréia, the former senator, departmental councilor of the canton of Felletin and member of the Human Rights League, Renée Nicoux, the former LFI deputy Catherine Couturier, also affixed their signature.
Elected officials attacked in their daily efforts
“He steps up to the plate on a subject he doesn't know, he doesn't inquire. Where is the responsibility of an elected official who throws out a ready-made truth in the eyes of the Republic while we are working towards tolerance towards each other? ” asks and worries Marie-Françoise Fournier, the mayor of Guéret. “We recognize his legitimacy as an elected official, but he must be careful with his comments as an elected official and representative of the population.” warns Renée Nicoux.
By their approach, the elected signatories want to publicly say stop such actions on the part of the Creuse MPwhich they describe as false and counterproductive, “while Creuse has always been a welcoming land, and without welcome, no new arrivals“. “It's not the job of an MP to create a split. Its job is to develop a territory, to bring together the people who live there and to encourage those who do not live there to come and live there. ” notes Yves Giron, the first secretary of the PS in Creuse, who is worried about the demographic decline in the department.
Elected officials from all over Creuse: a strong signal
Creuse elected officials also feel attacked in their daily missions and efforts. “By unnecessarily raising the specters of mistrust and fear of others, it threatens all the patient work built by local officials” points out the manifesto. “We, the local elected officials, but also the associations, the entrepreneurs, we work to bring a territory to life, to weave a social network, and the fact of having this kind of discourse will create a divide where there is none, will arouse resentment, it contributes to a deleterious climatenotes the mayor of Felletin, Olivier Cagnon. We have a fragile territory, we have to fight for it to survive and to meet with elected officials from all over Creuse is a strong signal to say that we want to work together for the territory. , whatever our differences of point of view“.
“I am very calm about these declarations” – Bartolomé Lenoir
Bartolomé Lenoir responded to this manifesto with an official press release on social networks. “I am very calm about these statements and I will do my job without batting an eyelash,” he wrote. **He confirmed to us that he was calm, but also “very disappointed to see that elected officials were concerned about that” and said he was misunderstood while he “fights for health in the department, so that we keep our schools, against the announced elimination of thousands of teachers“.
The UDR deputy considers this manifesto “completely disconnected from reality. So, I'm a little over it. I'm doing my job, which I believe is good for the Creuse. Everyone sees on a daily basis that I am on the ground and working like crazy. Afterwards I admit that I am very shocked by the fact that there is the obvious presence of ultra-left people in the department. And I will always assume it. I committed during my campaign to do things and I will respect my commitments.”
