There are two things that the Meuse department could not have foreseen in the two years since its teams have been working for the passage of the Olympic flame through the territory: the violent storm that threatens and the dissolution of the National Assembly, which placed their relay right on the eve of the first round of the early legislative elections.
In the departmental council car responsible for bringing the president, Jérôme Dumont, and his vice-president for youth and sports, Isabelle Périn, to several of the seven Meuse sites where the flame passed on Saturday June 29, “everything is jostling”. We are monitoring the agricultural weather forecast – the most precise – and messages from the prefect: the storm should hit the department at the end of the day, placed on orange alert.
“Do you know that I am a candidate? “, suddenly says Jérôme Dumont in the vehicle heading towards the first stage, Gondrecourt-le-Château, in the very south of the department. The president of the departmental council has entered the legislative race with the various right-wing label, facing the outgoing deputy of the National Rally, Florence Goulet.
Candidate, “Well, not today!”, adds Mr. Dumont. To avoid mixing his two hats and being accused of using his position for the next day’s election, the president took a step back this Saturday. His presence, planned for a long time, cannot be assimilated to campaign time: he will be in all the official photos. On the other hand, he is not allowed to say a word. “I’m here but it’s like Bernardo from Zorro, I’m mute!”.
Read the report | Article reserved for our subscribers Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the complex arbitrations around the route of the torch relay in the Meuse
Add to your selections
“Parenthesis”
Then it is its vice-presidents who say a few words for the department, briefly and always at the end of the stage, at the request of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop), so that the flame can quickly return to the ‘next step.
The starting gun was fired in Gondrecourt-le-Château at 8:30 a.m. under a radiant sun, in front of a large and fervent family audience. The prefecture announced 800 people – “It depends on whether we count the police!” underlines a spectator, impressed by the dozens of CRS and police trucks which descended on the village of 1,000 inhabitants, located, it is true, close to the sensitive site of Bure. “The device was large and perhaps dissuasive”welcomed the prefect Xavier Delarue after a day « sans incident notable »In total, more than 25,000 people came to see the flame on Saturday, according to the prefecture’s count.
You have 61.48% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
