"In view of the current situation, it is clear that the ambition you had formulated to
change the face of our neighborhoods [...] by the end of the five-year term
has fizzled out".
The tone is solemn, the words are strong.
This Saturday, November 14, a hundred mayors, presidents of agglomerations and associative leaders of priority neighborhoods, "representing nearly 10 million inhabitants", publish an open letter to the President of the Republic to demand "republican equality" and ringing and stumbling means.
The date was not chosen at random.
It corresponds to the third anniversary of the speech of Tourcoing (North) in 2017, in which Emmanuel Macron announced a “national mobilization plan” for working-class neighborhoods entrusted to the former Minister of the City Jean-Louis Borloo.
"Non-assistance to endangered territories"
Many of the signatories were already at the origin of “Grigny's appeal”, launched in October 2017, in which they were alarmed at budget cuts in poor cities.
If they take up the pen again, it is to express their great disappointment with the application of the plan, more or less buried: “Three years later, only a few measures, carried mainly by the cities, could be undertaken (only four with the support of the State!) ”, they lament.
Not to mention that since then, the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 epidemic has hit their communities hard.
"Faced with this new context, the dominant feeling is that of non-assistance to territories in danger", write the elected officials for whom "no ambitious measure" has been taken to respond to the social and economic distress in their communities.
“This inertia has to be paid for in cash.
Today, another virus is developing in our neighborhoods and even beyond: that of dropping out of the Republic ”, they warn.
And to alert on the many signals passed “to the red”: requests for food aid which “explode”, unemployment which increases, the number of RSA beneficiaries which progresses, registrations in cultural and sports associations which decrease. "Massively".
"Without means, we will fall into a coma"
"It is a cry of despair that we launch at the first of the French, because he needs to be enlightened on the reality of our territories, entrusts the Parisian - Today in France Frédéric Leturque, the mayor (Les Centristes ) from Arras (Pas-de-Calais).
We want the confidence of the State but also the means.
Without means, we will fall into a coma ”.
Same sense of urgency in Gilles Poux, the mayor (PCF) of La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis).
"In view of the current debates on identity withdrawal, ideological ruptures, the Republic must take the bull by the horns and send tangible signs", urges the elected.
Calling for "a new pact of confidence", the signatories demand as well that 1% of the recovery plan of 100 billion euros launched in September by the government is "sanctuarized" for the territories in stalling.
Objectives: to finance up to 100 million euros per year an emergency fund for associations, create local committees in charge of emergency aid (200 million euros) and medical homes (200 million euros). 'euros) in the poorest towns, launch a fund of 120 million euros to mobilize employment actors or even deploy 7,000 mediators in the streets.
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Finally, to “get back to the spirit” of the Borloo plan, the authors of the letter propose the creation of a National Solutions Council.
Composed of elected officials, associations, civil servants, entrepreneurs and volunteer academics, it should "identify, promote and evaluate the solutions that work in the field" in terms of employment, citizenship, education, security, mobility, housing… “In all our little corners of France, we are deploying excellent initiatives, argues Marie-Claude Jarrot, mayor (LR) of Montceau-les-Mines (Saône-et-Loire).
By sharing them, we will be much stronger and we will make a Republic together ”.