Asked since December 20 to remove the Christmas nativity scene from the town hall, the town of Beaucaire has chosen to move it… just a few meters. An assumed choice which will have certain financial consequences in view of the financial sanctions imposed by the Administrative Court.
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It took almost a week for the mayor of Beaucaire (Gard) and his teams to initiate the counterattack. Ordered to pay a penalty of 19,000 euros, for non-compliance with secularism due to the presence of a crèche in the town hall, they had time to refine their response. And to read the order of the summary judge in the smallest details.
This Monday, January 20, the Beaucaire town hall announced, on the one hand, that it had initiated a cassation appeal estimating “that the exhibition in question is indeed a cultural, artistic and festive exhibition within the meaning of the jurisprudence of the Council of State”.
-But above all, in a press release marked with irony – or provocation – the City announced that it had moved the crèche, initially located in the hall of the city hall, to the reception of the town hall “in order to avoid a nasty flu epidemic among the figurines”. Further in the press release, the City explains that it responded to requests from the Administrative Court which required the removal of the Christmas nativity scene “in the hall of the city hall”.
A response “to the letter” and a new blow in the standoff between justice and the commune led by the National Rally. On January 14, in addition to the first penalty of 19,000 euros, the Administrative Court ordered that each day spent with the crèche at the town hall would cost the City 5,000 euros. Which would bring the total to around 134,000 if the crèche remained until February 4, as initially planned. Enough to make the crèche the most publicized in France, the most expensive in France.
A vision that the municipal opposition rejects. The latter, through the voice of Luc Perrin, demands that the financial sanctions be settled by the mayor, Nelson Chaudon, in his own name. “For me, a person holding public authority incurs personal responsibility when they refuse to execute a court decision. It is not up to the people of Beaucair to pay for the irresponsible stubbornness of their mayor” he assures.
Every year, the installation of a Christmas nativity scene in a public building comes up again and again in the municipalities of our region managed by the extreme right. In Beaucaire, mayor Julien Sanchez and then his successor Nelson Chaudon made it their hobby horse in the name of “defending traditions” and in defiance of the law. But every year, this Christmas nativity scene is denounced by the Human Rights League.
At the end of the day, this Monday, January 20, the LDH informed us that it had again referred the matter to the judge for penalty liquidation. “faced with the repeated refusal to execute the decision through once again disloyal behavior”. Through her lawyer, she ensures that she does everything possible to obtain respect for both secularism and the rule of law.
