Petits fours, brioches, pancakes… The wishes of elected officials are often an opportunity to feast the eye after the holidays. After, of course, listening to the results of the past year and other perspectives. But for 2025, many will be deprived of buffets and speeches! Because almost everywhere in France, mayors, presidents of intermunicipalities, departments or regions have decided to cancel their traditional ceremonies.
As in the metropolis of Rouen, where Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol announced it in mid-December. “With a catastrophic national budgetary situation, we must set an example,” explains 20 Minutes the one who is also mayor of the Norman capital. “I do not want the population to suffer from possible measures while personalities eat canapes among themselves. »
Its message is above all “symbolic” and… political. “It represents a few tens of thousands of euros on a budget of more than a billion, so the economic dimension is not essential. But we must set an example,” insists one of the first delegate secretaries of the Socialist Party (PS), who does not want to “neglect the power of symbols.”
“Several grants have not yet arrived”
And he's not the only one. Also at the level of his commune in the Vosges, Philippe Retournard hopes to be heard after having made the same decision. “We completely disagree with what is happening in the Assembly. The different parties are unable to agree and take the French hostage. It’s to show how fed up we are,” explains the mayor of Darnieulles, a town of “1,369” inhabitants located a few kilometers from Epinal. It also highlights national budgetary uncertainties. “In November, we were told that there was no more money, and several grants have not yet arrived…”
Shortcomings that multiple elected officials pointed out when canceling their ceremonies. The councilor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse, denounced “the strong budgetary constraints that the State imposes on the metropolis” and announced “to reduce investment by 30%”. Still in Hérault, Robert Ménard spoke of a “worrying economic situation” and “instability (which) could continue”.
-“All of this, of course, has consequences for our local communities. And if we have taken care, for years, to manage the City's finances as best as possible, which allows us to maintain a healthy situation, we are worried about the future […] Also, always keen to save money, the mayor has decided not to organize a greeting ceremony for the population this year,” the city of Béziers published on its Facebook page on December 27.
“I choose our priorities”
Others had anticipated even more. The Les Républicains (LR) mayor of Bron (Rhône), Jérémie Bréaud, had drawn his hand at the end of October. “Even if I remain convinced that these wish ceremonies are the ideal time to get together, form a society and report on the action of elected officials, for 2025, with responsibility, I choose our priorities,” he wrote in a press release. . On November 21, Jean-Marc Roze imitated him “in the face of the significant budgetary difficulties that the Marne department is currently experiencing”.
In Tarn-et-Garonne, “the removal of wishes to personalities is part of the first axis of the budgetary orientations for 2025. Increased vigilance on charges of a general nature was requested by the president during the debate in the assembly on December 16, 2024 This effort includes symbolic measures also including the renunciation of going to the International Agricultural Show in Paris in 2025 and a recalibration of certain events,” wrote to. 20 Minutes the department, far from being an isolated case.
The Ile-de-France region must also be mentioned. Its president, Valérie Pécresse, said she wanted to “hunt down all savings” including this one, estimated at 100,000 euros. Which will therefore be used elsewhere. In Evry-Courcouronnes, this will notably be for the local branch of Restos du Cœur. The town hall of this town in Essonne offered to buy their premises “to allow the association to no longer pay rent”. All thanks to the sums saved from the 2025… and 2026 greeting ceremonies. Finally, in Tarbes, solidarity was put forward. The mayor, Gérard Tremège (LR), chose rather than inviting his constituents to donate 10,000 euros to the victims of Mayotte. Who should not use them in petit fours or brioches…
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