Hachette Livre has negotiated with the SNCF advertising agency the reservation of panels in stations to promote the work of the president of the RN, which is due to appear at the beginning of November. Without the company knowing the name of the author of the book.
A “shock” and “anger”. The CGT and Sud Rail unions of the SNCF questioned the president of the transport company, Jean-Pierre Farandou, this Thursday, October 17. Reason for their dissatisfaction: the stations could soon be the subject of a large-scale advertising campaign concerning the book by the president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella (What I wear, Éditions Fayards), scheduled for release on November 9.
Hachette Livre, the mayor of Fayard, owned by the conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, negotiated with the SNCF advertising agency the reservation of 581 advertising panels in stations, we learned in Libération et l’Humanité this Wednesday, October 16. A total of 100 stations are affected, in Paris and Île-de-France (67), as well as in the provinces (43) for a period spanning from November 25 to December 17, indicates Libération.
“Racist, xenophobic, homophobic, sexist party”
A “provocation” which must stop for the CGT railway workers. “You are not unaware of the commitment that the CGT made before the summer (during the legislative elections, Editor’s note), to avoid the worst, namely the accession of Mr. Bardella to Matignon,” writes the union addressed to Jean-Pierre Farandou in a post shared on Facebook.
“We did it because the FN/RN is a racist, xenophobic, homophobic, sexist party, totally contrary to our values which, on the contrary, advocate tolerance and living together.”
Same tone for Sud Rail, which insists on its “total opposition” to the RN. While emphasizing that the “Council of State has confirmed the extreme right positioning” of the Lepenist formation, the union recalls in a letter that the FN, now RN, “was created by the Waffen-SS, collaborators of the Vichy regime and members of the OAS”.
“At the start of the year, the advertising agency of RATP and SNCF Mediatransports had no problem removing the posters of comedian Waly Dia and interrupting the campaign, which was initially validated on the grounds that it this ‘presents a political character incompatible with the duty of neutrality which is required in public transport and could be considered defamatory or insulting'”, writes Sud Rail again.
For its part, the SNCF was not aware, Fayard not being obliged to specify that the reserved panels would concern the work of Jordan Bardella. Contacting Franceinfo, Mediatransports, the SNCF advertising agency, however indicated that it could “refuse a poster campaign, even if it has been reserved.
“We check whether it complies with the law and ethical and contractual obligations. In this case, stations are public places, so there is, for example, an obligation of political neutrality which applies,” the company clarified. who is waiting to receive the “visuals” of this campaign to decide.
