An electoral campaign necessarily passes through the MIN box of Rungis.
Within the framework of the regional ones, Stéphane Layani, the president of Semmaris, manager of the largest market in the world, has already received Valérie Pécresse, the outgoing president (Libres!), Jordan Bardella, the candidate (RN) and expects next week Julien Bayou (EELV).
But this Wednesday, the conductor of the belly of Paris had a lot to do.
Laurent Saint-Martin, the candidate of the presidential majority, who, as a member of Parliament for Val-de-Marne, is a bit there, at home, - he is on his 5th visit, the first dating back to the time when he officiated at the BPI - did not come alone.
With nothing less than the Prime Minister.
Which had never come to taste the traditional calf's head early in the morning, sprinkled with Pommard.
"Our candidates have things to say in these elections"
Who had the idea of June 9, a symbolic day to reopen indoor restaurants?
"It was I who proposed to him," says the candidate, also accompanied by number 2 on the list in Val-de-Marne, the Minister of Housing Emmanuelle Wargon, and the boss of LREM, Stanislas Guerini.
This outing eleven days before the first round is, according to Laurent Saint-Martin, part of “a good dynamic” of the campaign. Some polls now credit him with 16% of the vote and a 3rd place. And this exit is all the more symbolic as Jean Castex made his first trip to support an LREM candidate.
"He is a serious person, who has a lot of ideas, he is a win-win, he will work very well with the government", boasts the Prime Minister, who judges that supporting the candidates of the majority, c 'is its "role". “Our candidates have things to say in these elections,” he insists. And to promise more visits. Not scalded for a penny to go to meet the French, after the slap received by the President of the Republic the day before in the Drôme. "We continue, and we will continue more than ever, to meet the French".
This Wednesday morning, it was about the workers who get up early.
And in the light of the selfies requested, the mood was "in happy days".
Smiles, checks, a detour here to aim for calf's liver, a detour there to break the calf's head… The Prime Minister scrutinizes the labels and appreciates finding a carcass from not far from his land in Gers .
Bethmale is swallowed, strawberries are tasted.
"A call for ideas" for the extension of the MIN
" How's it going ?
Laurent Saint-Martin questions employees of the meat pavilion, seated at the market brasserie.
"The first confinement, we felt it pass, but now it starts to resume," says one of them.
Three out of four MIN products are found on the Ile-de-France plates.
To read also "An unimaginable joy": at the Rungis market, the return of restaurateurs is blowing a wind of optimism
Discussions are also taking place on the hot issues to be dealt with.
Gino, the king of poultry, confides in the ears of today's visitors, the concerns raised by the extension of the MIN in Val-d'Oise, with the Agoralim project.
" How do we do ?
With the traffic it's complicated, you need a good distribution ”.
"It is not us in the Val-de-Marne who are not going to defend the MIN", reassures him Laurent Saint-Martin.
“It's normal, as in any project, there is a need to explain, recontextualizes the candidate, aside.
They want to know who will be there, it's a bit early.
But for the region, it is positive.
There is a need in the Triangle de Gonesse for this project.
It's the future.
"
Before the end of July, the president of Semmaris announces "launching a major call for ideas" to open to consultation and define "the content, the sites, the business model".
"It is a structuring project for the next ten years, it must be built with the territories, the base".
Soon a meeting on the early bird train
By then, another file may have been successful: the relaunch of the "primeurs train".
In December, the government launched a call for expressions of interest to resume in the summer of 2021, this rail freight link between Perpignan and the Rungis market, which had been stopped since July 2019. A few days ago, a demonstration s 'is held in front of the Ministry of Transport, in order to obtain the return of this line which makes it possible to transport 400,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables.
Prime Minister and candidate were initially supposed to stop at the rail terminal. But the step was not made. "The Prime Minister will at one point make announcements on the subject," answers Stéphane Layani. Before leaving, Jean Castex indeed promised "a meeting".