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.

The British film director John Boorman present in the next European first film festival of Angers

The European first film festival of Angers, a cinematographic event conceived to reveal new European directors, planned from January 18th to 27th, will soon publish the film selection of its... 25th edition. Since 1989, 100 young directors come every year in Angers to present their work in front of an audience more and more humerous. More than 70 000 tickets were sold in 2012.

The selection will be announced mid-December : short and feature films, student films, animated films, Free style, Next Shot, short films – stereoscopic 3D, and public readings of first scripts... Seven programmes are announced so far7 and among them the films of John Boorman, a major British director, who will be present in Angers. John Boorman is world famous for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama. For that last film he was awarded to the Cannes Film Festival in 1998 (Best Director Award). 

"Seeing the films of John Boorman means exploring the great diversity of universes and genres", write the organizers of the festival. His wor borrow to science fiction, the mediaeval time, the "Californian film noir" or "to the story of Billy, a child living through the blitz". John Boorman "has developed a fascinating, protean body of work, punctuated with cult films audacious, sometimes mystical, and spectacularly inhabited by nature and wonder".

Opening of stores on Sundays : the Angers mayor thinks a "balance" must be found out

The Angers inhabitants granted, in their last chat on December 5 with Angers mayor, Frédéric Béatse, a large place to ideas involving new expenses for the city. A modern and larger skating rink, the construction of a new bridge, the planning of a musical event in order to promote Angers, the implementation of the new banks of Maine project, the future local tv channnel were some of the issues of that evening. 

The dramatic closure of Technicolor which gave jobs to thousands of inhabitants during dozens of year belongs already to the past... Apart from a question regarding the fiscal burden linked to the property tax, the only economic issue was... the closing of stores on Sundays! But in that field, the mayor's answer was a little bit more subtle than the question. In order to appear open-minded, the chatter (as well as many people speaking about that issue) talks about the "opening of stores on Sundays" while he points out that he is in favour of the "closing" of those stores those days... 

After the inhabitant developed arguments justifying the closing of stores (the weakness of the purchase power, the wish of the people - the ones who have a job - to rest), Mr Béatse said that "it [was] necessary to find out a balance between economical activity and family time". If he "understand[s]" the employees' choice not to work on Sundays, the mayor ads "I have also respect for store owners' stance who consider that opportunity a way to make their business more dynamic". "That balance, if it had to be reconsidered some day, would stem from an agreement between unions and management", he said. The president of Angers Loire Métropole, Jean-Claude Antonini, looks more definite that his heir at Angers city.

Angers "City zen", the English speaking movies' week at Les 400 coups

One more time, the movie theatre Les 400 coups distinguishes with a "Week of English speaking films" from December 5th. Eleven American and English movies will be screened till december 11th and have been gathered around a main theme "City zen? Is the city a place of fullness?". The aim of the organizers is to get in touch with the English teaching community and the Angers inhabitants coming from English speaking countries. But one of the most important target is the scholar population from all the Maine et Loire. In 2011, more than 2 300 persons had came and, among them, about 2 000 pupils.

If some movies are titled in English ("Mean streets", "The Truman show", or "Whatever works") others are displayed with their French posters like "Corpse bride" ("Les noces funèbres") or "The help" La couleur des sentiments") what is a little bit amazing given the theme of the event. All the screenings will be preceded by an explanation (in French?) by a teacher of English. Three special evenings are planned for students, lovers of historical movies and and amateur of masterworks. All the movies are subtitled in French. For the idea, Les 400 coups have worked in association with Angers university and the English speaking library of Angers.

It is not sure that all the movies screened during that week are the faithful reflection of a fullness of the city but, apparently, Angers public takes pleasure, year after year to watch them. Is English sound zen?

Angers chalets and passer-by in the reflection of closed stores front sides

At the evening of the first Sunday of December, Angers inhabitants and others expressed, unconsciously but clearly, their interest for an enlived down town. The weather was gloomy and rainy but, nevertheless, hundreds of people and among them many families, were wandering in the streets where the only hustle and bustle came from the wooden mobile chalets set up there for Christmas. Very different items, some specific to the end of the year period, others available in neighbouring stores all year long, were to purchase, and were purchased.

But, why is the mobile pastry opened when the nearby bakery is closed? Why the temporary wooden hut is allowed to sell make-up products while Sephora, at a few meters from there, has its doors shut? Why are some other clothes stores out of business where, in the same place, the mobile chalets are selling gloves and scarves? Why would the Angers customers see their choices of stores restricted to the only mobile trade retailers instead of all other front sides?

 That situation looks questionnable because, on one side, Angers stores owners want to work and, on the other, Angers households want to do shopping! According to Angers Loire Métropole chairman, Jean-Claude Antonini, working days must be dedicated by people to rest. Is that authority in charge of saying that? And why are the employees of restaurants, cinemas, garden centres working while others have the right to rest? It has been said that the purchasing power of Angers inhabitants was not sufficient to make the stores running on Sundays. If that is true why were these people wandering in the street on Sundays?

Angers babies "Blakeground"

Angers city, thanks to the drawings of an English artist, has been quoted recently by the French daily newspaper Le Monde. "They are lucky, the newborn of Angers maternity ward. When, for the first time, their delicate pupils open to the world, what do they see? Women with angels' hair, babies twirling around, fishes laughing, ducks smiling... They see grace, humor, life. They see the drawings of Quentin Blake", writes the newspaper.

Le Monde points out that the drawings set up in the Centre hospitalier universitaire are the first these human beings will see all their life : "A few years (after their birth), they will meet the British illustrator with his cartoon strips Les Cacatoes or Armeline Fourchedrue. Later, they will devour Roald Dahl novels who worked with Quentin Blake for the famous movie Charlie et la chocolaterie". Le Monde continues the list with the work of Blake for classic master works written by Dumas or Cervantes. "Blake is much more than a simple illustrator. It's an artist whose production can escort us from the day nursery to the retirement home", comments Le Monde.

Credit Pictures: Angers Maternity Ward

The drawings of Quentin Blake, already world famous, when they were set up in the Centre hospitalier universitaire, will may be attract pregnant women looking for a favourable environment for the arrival of their babies in the world? English nurses are now sought.

The Western airport could bring some turbulences in the majority of Angers city council

While divisions inside the minority camp of Angers city council have worsened with the recent side-lining of Laurent Gérault, the majority has now its own difficulties, maybe more divisive. The amplification, nation wide but also in Angers, of the questionning about Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport scheme, is now visible in the rank of the majority of the Angers town council, constituted with Parti socialiste supporters and Europe Ecologie Les Verts members. 

These have recently published on their new website a press release signed by important members of the municipal team. Jamila Delmotte, Vincent Dulong and Gilles Mahé, all Angers deputy-mayors, express criticism about the airport project the Angers Loire Métropole authority, leaded by Jean-Claude Antonini, previous mayor of the city, officialy supports. "Is it right that Angevins must have to spend hundreds of thousands of euros every year for the scarce traffic of Angers Marcé airport which surely will disappear if Notre-Dame-des-Landes scheme is implemented?", they question. "How can we support such a facility which will decenter the gravity of our region with the real risk to isolate [Angers]? ".
 
That analysis about the usefulness of the airport is very different with those of the city council majority which points out that "The external accessibility of the territory is an issue of competitiveness" in the Alm website. Some decisions will have to be made up inside the Angers city council regarding the facilities resulting from the implementation of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. The first will be the service road linking Angers to the Western airport. If those have to intervene before the next municipal polls of 2014, the majority side could face some "turbulences"". Fasten seat belts!

In Ralliement square, demonstrations against the airport project are "clear to take off"

The construction of a new airport is not the gift some Angers inhabitants wish to get for Christmas. Dozens of them were gathered in the middle of the mobile chalets traditionnaly set up in Ralliement square every year. The place, where thousands of people are wandering every day during December throughout the paths between chalets, was the ideal location (and the most appropriate day, opening of the Christmas village) to be heard by Angers opinion.

They were heard, incidentally, by the mayor, Frédéric Beatse,  there by chance and apparently not delighted by the scene. The passengers of the trolley were not pleased to be slowed while passer-by didn't paid much attention to the activists. The demonstrators have deployed several banners against the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project and handed out leaflets and petitions demanding the abandonment of the scheme.  Their gathering has also interrupted the trolley traffic and that very visible weakness of the Angers new transportation mode is not close to be forgotten... 

Credit Picture : William

Moreover, since its completion, the Ralliement square has become the "theatre" of numerous demons-trations. It is not probably a function that designers of the place had foreseen. This is not the first time demonstrations take place in Angers against the airport project officially supported by Angers city which sees in that facility an essential way of access to the Western part of France whose that town is member. The demonstrators criticize the damages to environment the project will cause and its uselessness given the Nantes Atlantique airport is not yet overloaded by fret and passengers traffic.