the essential
Driver at the Hautes-Pyrénées prefecture for 36 years, Claude Aoustin, who is retiring soon, gives us many anecdotes “from behind the scenes of power”.
It has been a privileged witness to the history of the Hautes-Pyrénées for more than 35 years. Claude Aoustin has been a driver at the prefecture… since 1989, almost by chance. “When I was in charge of a hotel in Lourdes, one day, a colleague challenged me to take the automobile driver's exam of the technical services of the Ministry of the Interior and I passed with flying colors “.
17 prefects, 5 presidents of the Republic and two Popes later, Claude Aoustin is still a seasoned pilot of the prefectural “plane”. The man exudes a natural elegance, always dressed to the nines, without departing from a natural smile and joviality.
It is also a true living memory of the secrets (sometimes well kept) of the gold of the Republic. “Thanks to this job, I learned and saw a lot of things and I went to places where ordinary mortals would never go” testifies the man who never thought he would experience “a hell of an adventure” when he embraced this which almost seems like a vocation: “You know when you leave but you don’t know when you come back”.
Under the fire of farmers' anger
But without betraying “the duty of reserve” to which his function obliges him (“What you hear in the car stays in the car”), he agreed to confess some anecdotes “from the corridors of power” of which he was the spectator in the front row, behind the wheel as a control tower. More than a driver, Claude Aoustin can prove to be a true guardian angel of the prefects and successive political men (or women) he has worked with.
Like this day (undated) when he had to support “with my colleague Gérard”, the windows of the Prefect's office to prevent them from giving way under the pressure of the slurry cannons from a farmers' demonstration.
He also remembers another “stabbing” action by Gers farmers in Fontrailles where the Minister of Agriculture Jean Glavany and his entourage suffered a rain of projectiles and insults, before being ” exfiltrated” by the gendarmerie. “It cost me a suit” still laughs Claude Aoustin who had to make “a big loop” through the Gers to bring Mitterrand's former chief of staff back to safety.
At the bedside of Chirac and Simone Veil's hair
The man was also at the bedside of Simone Veil's hair who left her with the memory of “an exceptional personality. Every time she came to the department, notably in Lourdes when Philippe Douste-Blazy was the mayor, it rained And as she didn't like having the rain on her hair because it was frizzy, she had to follow her everywhere with an umbrella.
It must be said that in his 36-year career within the prefecture, the servant of the State has been in close contact with “the great people of this world” such as at the summit of European heads of state in Biarritz in 2003 where President Jacques Chirac, true to form, told him when he took him back to the Hôtel du Palais in the evening: “I'm going to bed, go party.”
He also had the great privilege of “coming face to face with Pope John Paul II” during his second visit to Lourdes in August 2004. “He was a man of incredible will, because we saw that he suffered greatly because of his illness. He also has unforgettable memories of the visits to Lourdes by the President of Togo who brought back “up to 500 liters of water from Lourdes” in his plane.
Married with two prefects
On a daily basis, he also remembers “friendly moments” with “his bosses”, and in particular picnics with Béatrice Lagarde.
Claude Aoustin has always maintained relationships of trust and brotherhood with them. So much so that two years ago, when he got married in Bonrepos, the town which had never seen any emissary of the Republic, was honored by the presence of not one but two prefects! The tribute during his lifetime to a servant of the State who became one of its essential cogs and the link between the 17 prefects whom he guided on the sometimes tortuous roads of the Hautes-Pyrénées.
