the essential
Wish ceremonies are traditional events in the Tarn in January. But this year, with the uncertainty over public finances, several communities have decided to cancel their wishes. Others maintain them. Overview.
Put away the champagne and cancel the petits fours: the Tarn Departmental Council will not organize a greeting ceremony for the transition to the new year 2025.
“In this context of budgetary uncertainty which affects all communities, and while financial efforts are requested from everyone, I took this symbolic decision to mark the seriousness of our management of public money and the sense of responsibility which supports the action of our departmental team”, explains Christophe Ramond, the president of the Department.
A decision full of meaning and a cry of alarm in a tense budgetary context. For a community like the Department, the bill for such an organization can easily be around 10,000 euros… That's always a win.
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Tarn: the 2025 wishes ceremony canceled by the Departmental Council
“I strongly hope that this cancellation is only an exception and that better budgetary visibility will allow us to reconnect with tradition as quickly as possible,” adds Christophe Ramond. “I hope that the government will be able to forge a contract of trust with the territories and in particular the Departments. The situation of our public accounts today requires a shared effort in a demand for fiscal justice Yes to the reduction of the State's lifestyle.
No ceremonies in Albi and Castres for years
But the Department is not the only one to go on a diet for the new year… The mayor of Castres, Pascal Bugis, was one of the first to cancel his ceremony of greeting the population, an event nevertheless appreciated by the people of Castres who came in large numbers to the Exhibition Center.
The last ceremony, during which the mayor discussed future projects after the screening of a film summarizing the main events of the past year, dates back to 2020. It was first canceled because of the health crisis and has never, to this day, been organized again… for budgetary reasons.
Only the agenda, financed 100% by advertising, which was traditionally distributed during this ceremony, continues to be made available to residents who must now come and collect it from the town hall.
Same story in Albi where mayor Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil has not organized greetings to the population for several years now. Only the traditional greetings to municipal agents are maintained in the Tarn prefecture. The mayor of the small village of Durfort has also canceled his well-wishes ceremony for 2025 and will simply send them to his constituents during the elders' meal on Saturday January 25… As in Réalmont and in several small villages.
“Costs are under control for this type of event”
Others like Olivier Fabre, in Mazamet, opted this year for a less expensive solution: wishes through a video published on his social networks and on the City's Facebook and Instagram pages.
If the initiative is understood or even supported by the vast majority of elected officials, it is not necessarily followed by other communities such as Carmaux and Gaillac which are maintaining their ceremonies on January 9 and 16.
“I totally understand that some communities are canceling,” explains Jean-Louis Bousquet, the mayor of Carmaux. “But we are maintaining the greeting ceremony because costs have been under control for this type of event for years. We do almost everything in-house, the costs are therefore minimal for the communities. And the wishes are also a moment which allows us to communicate, to highlight our projects. It is a symbolic meeting awaited by the population.
