He has dozens of initials on all his desks.
Necessarily.
A mountain of files that symbolize the trials to overcome to embrace your new life.
Decidedly, the year 2020 is facetious.
Few commentators in the media life could have predicted that Patrick de Carolis, 66, would become mayor of Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône) - where the Rencontres de la photographie, the great annual festival, is held in an upset version by the Covid-19 until September 22 - the city where he was born and which he had left when he was around ten years old.
And yet, it is done.
The former president of France Télévisions (from 2005 to 2010) now wears the tricolor scarf.
On June 28, the former creator of "Roots and Wings", who then headed the Marmottan-Monet Museum, was elected with 57.2% of the votes cast against 42.8% for Nicolas Koukas, 45, the successor of outgoing Communist mayor Hervé Schiavetti, putting an end to nineteen years of communist stronghold.
"I embody change", reasons this phoenix, without label but supported by the militant fabric of the right.
He emerged victorious at the end of a particularly harsh local campaign in which his political opponents reproached him for his conviction by the Court of Appeal, in one part of the Bygmalion case, to a suspended sentence of five months in prison. accompanied by a fine of 25,000 euros.
With Roselyne Bachelot, the current goes
In Arles, it suffices to follow him for a few minutes in the sunny alleys of the historic center, in particular during the visit of Roselyne Bachelot this summer at the Rencontres, to realize that the current is flowing.
"We will see what he is going to do with the city", reason two Arlésiennes on seeing him, while he takes the new Minister of Culture to his predecessor, Françoise Nyssen, in the bookstore of his house in editions, Actes Sud, on the banks of the Rhône.
“Getting the Arles house back on track,” insists Patrick de Carolis's team to describe its roadmap.
“First, I do a financial audit.
We must reset everything, flat, share everything, the truth of the facts, figures too.
And then, rebuild, rebuild together, ”he says on the evening of his election.
This summer, he must manage the pandemic, and is enthusiastic about the maintenance of the festival.
"The Rencontres de la photo d'Arles in principle welcome 120,000 people who stay several days", explains this member of the Academy of Fine Arts, after having praised "the incredible cultural fabric" which made it possible to organize at the foot raised alternatives in terms of exhibitions.
"As a child, I had the ancient theater as a sandbox"
He, the man of culture, who always accompanies the Marmottan-Monet museum until the appointment of his successor around October, owes, according to him, to his hometown, his appetite for culture.
“As a child, I had the ancient theater as a sandbox.
I was imbued with stone and the history it conveys ”, confides this son of a tailor of Italian origin.
"I always felt in exile when I was not here, even if I made my career elsewhere, this city has always lived in me", he insists, in reference to these decades when he did not return only to see his clan there, where his parents are buried there.
"Some saw it as a career change, but no, it's a logical continuation, my wife was prepared for this return", explains the one who moved into an 18th century building in the historic center of Arles.
A house that belonged to Jean-Pierre Camoin ... former mayor of the Camargue capital from 1983 to 1995.
This young grandfather for a few months has definitely turned his back on TV, proud that his two "babies", "Roots and wings" on France 3 and "Zone interdite" on M 6, are aging very well.
“It is a satisfaction to see that more than twenty years later, these programs are still in phase with the French.
"
"The television?
I have no opinion.
My work is elsewhere… ”
Concretely, since his arrival in his chair as mayor, Patrick de Carolis aims to reorganize the administration, develop video surveillance, increase the number of municipal police officers from 12 to 50 and create a canine brigade to fight against incivility.
And like a snub to his old life, he swears he no longer cares about French media life, preferring the preparations for municipal councils.
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What does he think of the re-election of Delphine Ernotte as president of France Télévisions?
"Without language of wood, I am no longer at all that, I learned of his election a week later," he says, bursting into laughter.
But I congratulate her of course!
I am still interested in television but I no longer have the controllers, I have no opinion.
My work is elsewhere… and I must leave you, I will be late!
"
