The future Angers tv, a channel to English

Credit Picture : Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel "The project of a local tv channel in Angers has been approved by the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel, the French broadcasting authority, on December 11th", notices one of the readers of Angers Daily News, Sébastien Lewis. Mr Lewis, in a post to that blog, hopes that "there will be some programs in English, since so many English-speaking people live in Angers". If Angevins coming from English speaking countries could be interested by programs in their mother tongue, natives Angers and especially young inhabitants could be interested, in addition to the English lectures they already have at school or university, by a supplementary way of learning English. Credit Picture Angers city An educational content, besides the informative purpose of the channel, would not necessarily contradictory with some of the actions already implemented by Angers city as well as Angers Loire Métropole. The first is the choice to increase the use of scholars of numerical tablets instead of traditional computers. Since last september, all Angers public primary schools use it and those tablets are also appearing few by few in private schools.  And one of the most interesting field of interest is the "apprenticeship of foreign languages". Credit Picture Angers Loire Métropole The English content of the local programs would also be consistent with the positionning of Angers Loire Métropole through the brand "Angers Loire Valley", the twinning of the city with the capital of Texas, Austin, and the recent audience of the last Accorche-Coeurs edition regarding the fact Angers was the native land of former English kings.  Because the contents of the future local channel have not been settled, its managers, and among them Angers city and the Angers Loire Métropole authority, have time to think about that supplementary educational purpose.

Secularism wants to root in Angers

A tribute to secularism has taken place in the redevelopped Lorraine square in Angers. That tribute is a tree, a symbolic choice for the supporters of such an initiative who want to see secularism protected and even developped in France. Numerous persons have attended the tree planting ceremony on december 9, 107 years after the most famous French law enacting the state and church separation was drafted. The originators of the event are above all public education trade unions while Angers gathers an important number of catholic schools and event a catholic university. 

But in Angers, civil society and church are not as separated as church and state are since 1905. Angers gathers an important numbers of confessionnal schools and even a catholic university. And, in Angers, as in many other French (and English) cities, religion has invaded the streets because of the headgears and clothes wore by women who seem to impose their religious opinions to the passer-by's knowledge. 

The Angers catholic church is going to take part next saturday to a debate about the opportunity to generalize the civil mariage between persons of the same gender. It is not said the ideas of Angers catholic church will have the same echo in the city that the defense of private schools got more than 30 years ago. 

The Angers channel has go the official "green light", not yet the one of the local audience

Even before its opening, the future local tv channel has already an audience... negative among inhabitants and Angers representatives. So there is a lot of work to do between the "green light" got on december 12th by Angers city from the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (Csa) and the beginning of the programmes, planned on next spring.

Two critics come from Angers minority representatives. The economic situation is not propicious to such a project whose profitability would be far from sure. Added to others expenses, the preleminary studies of the tramway second line, the water centre Aquavita, the new pace of shool schedules, they claim these projects foreshadow future taxes increases while the population is in bad shape. Moreover, the minority thinks the future station will above all be useful as a tool for propaganda to the Angers majority town council (It has been said that programmes broadcasted before March 31 will not be considered as electoral campaign costs).

According to the first supporter of the future channel, the Angers mayor, Frédéric Béatse, the news coverage of the city by the regional State channel is not what it should be, in comparison with neighbouring towns like Nantes or Le Mans. "The news coverage of Angers territory is very reduced", he regrets assuring, first, the city investments in the channel are due to decrease along the course of years and, second, that the editorial line will be independant from the Angers authority.

But, ultimately, the public will be the final decision-maker. According to a local opinion poll, Angers viewers think the presence of Angers city among the shareholders is not a good idea. And, regarding all the opinion till now in favour of public spending, that's really a news. And it must be added that, since a few months, Angers did't faced good news...

The second tramway : a "line voltage" between majority and opposition

Angers Loire Métropole wants to set up the second tramway line on the tracks. Next Thursday, the board of the local autority, which gathers Angers and 32 surrounding cities, will choice the team entrusted to lead the preliminary technical studies of the project. But the decision could be easy to make up : there is only one bidder and that one had already worked for the first line.

The launching of the works is not for soon : those preliminary surveys could last eight years and their costs is estimated at € 7 millions. The representative in charge of the scheme, Luc Belot, was questionned by the minority of Angers town council which sits at the transport commission of Angers Loire Métropole about the price of the project. This one has swept away the doubts about the ability of the Angers tax payer to foot the bill, but with questionable arguments. Mr Belot hopes to get the subsidies granted to the first line. But nothing is sure given the deficit of France public accounts and the tensions on local finances as well.  The second reason he gave is more surprising : "With time, we may hope that economic conditions will improve", he said convinced that "the preliminary studies will answer to those questions"!

A few months ago, Mr Belot had already warned that the second line would be shorter than what was planned. It could only go from Belle-Beille to Monplaisir districts, the tracks linking the line to Beaucouzé (from Belle-Beille) and to Saint-Sylvain d'Anjou (from Monplaisir) being postponed. The estimated cost is about € 20 millions by km. And the short circuit would represent 10 km... So it's tremendously important that the costs be precisely calculated.

Angers fame : an amateur pastry chef "put her hand to the dough"

Credit pictures : Angers Loire Valley

The contest for the best Angevine Christmas log launched a year ago by Angers Loire Métropole has its winner and its cake! The Christmas log, called L'Angevine, looks a delicious biscuit stuffed with black chocolate and a creamy heart of salted butter caramel with flavours of oranges and Cointreau. But the most original is the creator of L'Angevine is not an Angevine born! Monica Lazic a slim woman with dark brown air "betrayed" by an undefinable and charming accent succeeded to use local products and to display a faithful symbol ot Angers territory. 

The idea of that creation appeared with the Soleils d'hiver 2011 edition. Numerous amateur pastry-chefs "put their hand to the dough" and displayed their works to a jury of professionnals. Those adapted Mrs Lazic recipe to professional technics, then decided to put it on sale. On each Christmas log sold, one euro will benefit to an Angevine caritative community working for precarious families.

More than twelve cake shops of Angers among them some famous names like Allard, Benoît, Petit, and surroundings as well as Le Grand Café de France or Angers Loire Tourism office will sell the Christmas log. The Angers Daily News suggests for Christmas Eve dinner : first an Angevine Soup (one bottle of Crémant wine, one ladle of lemon juice, another of cane sugar syrup and a last ladle of Cointreau), then rillauds, zander in a beurre blanc sauce washed down with a Savennières wine, and of course L'Angevine with Cointreau!

Grim economic forecasts for 2013 according to Medef Anjou and Credit Agricole Anjou Maine

Jean-Paul Betbeze

The nature and the consequences of the crisis all the Angers economic agents are living, whether they be managers, employees, households or public authorities was the issue of a conference organized on December 4th by the Medef Anjou, the employers' community and the Crédit agricole Anjou Maine. Dozens of managers of Angers, visibly worried by the trend, were there. In order to enlighten what is at stake, those invited Jean-Paul Betbeze, chief economist at the Crédit agricole. According to Mr Betbeze, what all these people and organizations are facing is not anymore a financial crisis, as it was a few years ago, but instead a "crisis of production".

That crisis, which embraces all the economic agents above, is illustrated with "the shrinking of France market share". That decrease, "due to France labor costs" is the reason of "France inability to get more growth", points out the lecturer who nevertheless insists on the necessity of growth to refund the public debt. But, the most worrying aspect is the present position of the private small and mediaum companies : if 17% are profitable and can overcome the crisis, 35% are not doing well and "the others are sinking because they were unable to strenghen themselves after 2009".

Joel Freuchet

According to the lecturer, if the French government's strategy is that of the "half shock", it will be difficult to smooth the impact of the crisis. Probably, "the jobs creation and the real wages (i.e. wages after deduction of social contributions paid by employees and taxes) will decrease". And there is no other way to improve France competitiveness face to other countries. Hopefully, says Mr Betbeze, times are changing : "the French government starts to find out that the crisis is not only financial". 

The answer would be to change the French state model which costs too much to companies and households. But the French indulgence regarding public spending goes back to the 19th century...  "Managers are optimistic persons", reminded Joel Freuchet, Medef Anjou president.

The Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project catches up French president's companion in her native town of Angers

Will the book "François Hollande président" written by Valérie Trierweiler, the Angers born companion of the French president François Hollande, be choosen as a gift by inhabitants for Christmas? She intended to do so during an afternoon signings at the Fnac superstore on December 8th. That day the store was crowded but, apparently, it was not only for Mrs Trierweiler staying. Given the present and foreseen economic situation of France, it's not sure Angers customers are encouraged to read the story of a political event during Christmas break (traditionaly caracterized by the cease of political hostilities French could be presently fed up).

Born in Angers in 1965, Mrs Trierweiler lived with her family in the Grand Pigeon, then the Monplaisir districts and studied at the Joachim du Bellay lycée before undertaking political sciences studies in Paris. Having worked for the weekly magazine Paris-Match, Valérie Trierweiler covered political news and met the future French president in 2000 of whom she shares, since, his life.

Policy caught up her again during her staying in Angers because she received the claims of opponents to the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project who have demonstrated for weeks in the city. Such an initiative could not ease the task of the French prime minister Jean-Marc Airault. The Angers timetable of Mrs Trierweiler was partly dedicated to local events, especially the "Solidarian Christmas" in the Welcome hall and to the caritative Téléthon at Saint-Aubin square where Companions of duty offered their help to disabled persons.