On January 29, 2015, the mayor of Grigny Philippe Rio (PCF) handed his manifesto for “The Republic for all” to the then head of state, François Hollande.
Six years later, to the day, it is the turn of the current Prime Minister Jean Castex to go to Grigny this Friday.
On the program: an interministerial city committee which could lead to the announcement of several measures to combat the impoverishment of priority cities and neighborhoods.
The Prime Minister's trip to Grigny, the poorest city in France according to the latest report from the Observatory of Inequalities, is a response to the cry of alarm launched by 200 elected officials from all political stripes on November 14.
In an open letter addressed to the President of the Republic, the latter deplored "the absence of ambitious measures to respond to the social and economic distress of towns and working-class neighborhoods".
"We are facing an explosion of poverty"
"This call made it possible to put our suburbs back on the government agenda," notes Catherine Arenou, mayor (DVD) of Chanteloup-les-Vignes (Yvelines).
With the health crisis, we are faced with an explosion of poverty and a general collapse of associative life.
This situation calls for a commensurate response from the government.
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Once again, the elected promises to be vigilant.
"The Prime Minister was kind enough to listen to our proposals but listening does not mean holding back," she warns.
For the moment, nothing has been recorded in the Finance Law.
Will we be heard or just politely listened to?
Anyway, we remain mobilized on the question of the means and the method to move the lines.
We must act quickly, relying on the know-how of local players.
It is in this spirit that we are convening a National Solutions Council on February 1, after which we will formulate 10 strong proposals to save sport in our neighborhoods.
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The mayor of Beauvais wants to be more optimistic.
According to her, the government has given guarantees that “1% of the recovery plan will be returned to city policy,” says Caroline Cayeux (DVD).
This financial windfall will above all be “invested in educational devices such as learning vacations or education through sport.
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"Not a wave of a magic wand"
The mayor of Grigny, Philippe Rio (PCF), is also awaiting concrete announcements from the State.
“Since this call, we have worked and formulated proposals, underlines the elected representative.
It is now up to the government to return its copy.
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Employment, training, housing, security, the allocation of the envelope will be carefully scrutinized by elected officials.
"It seems that the government is working on an anti-ghetto plan," continues the mayor of Grigny.
But above all, we must fight against poverty.
The crisis we are going through will be lasting.
There should not be a gap between the measures taken and the situation in the cities.
We all know that this Interministerial Cities Committee will not be a magic wand.
It is a step to have new tools.
From now on, we will ask to meet the Prime Minister every month to ensure the implementation of this device.
The change of method begins this Friday.
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