From the map to the card

De la carte à la carte. - Tout ça pour ça? Promise à tous les redécoupages ou fusions, assurée de ne pas survivre à la réforme territoriale voulue par le gouvernement, les Pays de la Loire resteront tels quels! Pour autant, cela pourrait ne pas exclure quelques ajustements internes.

All that fuss for nothing! The Pays de la Loire region, of which Angers is part, were due first to be dismantled, with a part joining Brittany, another the Centre, another part the Poitou-Charents, then merged with Brittany, later merged with Poitou-Charentes, even to be included between Brittany and Poitou-Charentes will finally stay unchanged : no dismantlement and no merger. That is the final choice of the French republic president, François Hollande, made on June 2th.


All those hypothesis triggered critics from allies or adversaries of Mr. Hollande and of the territorial reform. "The rapprochement of our region with Poitou-Charentes results from a choice which, in no case, on a knowledge of territories and social, economic and politic realities", had pointed out the Angers mayor, Christophe Béchu, before he learnt the ultimate decision. But is that issue closed for good?

It is not sure. First because, in Brittany, and even in Loire-Atlantique (where the Pays-de-la-Loire capital is set) many people wanted to see that department be merged with Brittany. Secondly because Angers representatives, whatever be the political mood, have complained about the centralist reactions of Nantes, political but above all economic capital of the Pays de la Loire. In order to balance the power, ist would have been more appropriate to chose as capital of the region the town which is not already its economic centre like it is the case in the Us. And moreover Angers is the geographical centre of the region.