Par
Nicolas Pipelier
Published on
Jan 4, 2025 at 4:26 p.m.
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The good news came shortly before Christmas. On the list of the 2025-2027 promotion of theNational Institute of Public Service (INSP, ex-Ena), Florentin Chauvin saw his name. “I didn’t believe it. » The Vendéen was left speechless. “No one in my family has done Ena,” the 25-year-old young graduate is still surprised.
Those around him, the news was received “with great humility, joy and suppressed pride”. Particularly on the side of his mother, a teacher, and his father, an agri-food employee at Petitgas in Apremont. “They are the ones who instilled in me the taste for a job well done. And that it is possible to access, through hard work, spheres that we believe are reserved for the elite. »
From Saint-Etienne-du-Bois to Sciences Po
Coming from “the Vendée middle class”, the young graduate is the incarnation of meritocratic myth. Proof that the social elevator is not broken. And that determinism is a concept. “There are too many psychological obstacles which prevent many young Vendée residents from accessing selective courses. » A message that he has continued to hammer home in the department's schools with his association of Vendée aux Grandes écoles.
Because his journey proves that we can succeed. Even having started his schooling at the Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur school in Saint-Etienne-du-Bois. That you can go to the capital after passing through Saint-Paul de Palluau college. That by obtaining one bac ES at Notre-Dame de Challans high schoolwe can join the major schools.
“Serve my country”
Nothing would have been possible without the advice of his History professor who directed him towards the Sorbonne. He followed a double course in History and Political Sciences, before continuing with Paris Dauphine and Sciences Po Paris. Five years during which “internships made me want to join the civil service”.
The one carried out at the Vendée prefecture, in La Roche-sur-Yon, was decisive. “I discovered a sense of the general interest there. » With “dedicated civil servants, attached to the notion of public service”. But also “an administration more understaffed than people say. » Just like “the power and limits of the State to respond to the concerns of our fellow citizens”.
Yannick Moreau was the first to spot this acuity. After taking the presidency of theNational Association of Coastal Elected Officials (Anel), the mayor of Les Sables entrusted him with general management at just 23 years old. “It was a career accelerator. I was able to interact with high-level ministries and public authorities. » Which reinforced his choice to “serve my country”.
Working 7 days a week
After giving up “on a comfortable permanent contract” at Anel, Florentin Chauvin plunged back into books during “a year of intensive cramming” at the Sciences Po library. “One of the most stimulating years of my life. » A job 7 days a week that ended up paying off. Florentin is one of the 61 promoted at the INSP on 2,300 candidates.
On January 6, he will join the Strasbourg school for two years. On the program: professional internships in embassies, in prefectures and with the armed forces. With a new feature, “the internship at the counter as close as possible to those administered”. A measure taken from the reform of Ena which aims to “fight against the preconceived idea that senior civil servants do not know the field”.
The Ministry of the Interior
At the end of these two years, several careers will open up to him: diplomacy, the judiciary, the City of Paris, intelligence… The future senior civil servant is looking more towards the Beauvau Hotel and the Interior, currently headed by the Vendéen Bruno Retailleau. “In addition to the security aspect, this ministry maintains strong ties with elected officials who deserve all our respect. »
In this context of “distrust towards all powers”, the Vendéen intends to dust off “the image of the Enarque propped up behind his desk in the middle of dusty files”. He dreams of being on the ground and “working to simplify the procedures that hinder those who move the country forward”.
Clemenceau and de Lattre as models
And why not, one day, follow in the footsteps of illustrious Vendéens. Like Clemenceau or de Lattre de Tassigny. “Statesmen of great righteousness, rooted and entirely devoted to public affairs. » Figures that inspire him.
“In addition to their eminent role in the two world wars, they were the architects of the reconciliation between the two Vendée (the white Vendée, royalist and Catholic; the blue Vendée, republican and attached to secularism). For these reasons, they constitute, in my eyes, formidable role models. »
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