Scabies inside Angers prison looks impossible to eradicate

Les conditions de vie de la prison d'Angers continuent de défrayer la chronique... extra-judiciaire. La gale s'est propagée dans l'établissement pénitentiaire situé près du centre ville à proximité immédiate de logements sociaux et elle parait, selon le corps médical, impossible à éradiquer. La vétusté de ce bâtiment et son état de délabrement lui laissent-ils un avenir? Est-ce même souhaitable? 


The current life conditions for inmates in the Angers prison are resurfacing while the French justice minister is said to decide, before the end of summer, if that penitenciary facility, built in 1856, more than 158 years ago, will be be renovated, and will remain located close to the city centre, or will be transfered, the current jail being then converted into another use. Scabies, a contagious skin infection, is no longer eradicated in the prison for ten years!

"The issue is not new", reminds in Ouest-France the doctor Clotilde Rougé-Maillard, head of forensics (legal medecine) at the Angers hospital who nevertheless tempers her standpoint : "This is not an epidemic but and an endemic" meaning that the infection is maintained in the penal population because needs for external inputs are not fulfilled. If the age of the prison and its extremely poor state are propicious to the disease, the over-population, and the over-closeness which comes from it, are probably the most likely origins of the infection. Where there are 243 spaces, the number of inmates is 483, an excess soaring around 100%!

Credit Picture : Corinne Bouchoux

All Angers represen-tatives, whatever be their political orientation, and lawyers have for a long time condemned such circumstances, pointed out the emergency to act and submitted a transfer project of the facility from Angers towards Trélazé. The latest medical news give them reason. The prison is surrounded by social housing. The new mayor, Christophe Béchu, included in his platform, and now in his roadmap, the departure of the jail and its transformation in a contemporary art museum.

It is not sure the renovation of the current facility would be the more efficient way to eradicate the scabies endemic and the less costly for the public finances. Moreover, if such a "content" (contemporay art) evokes future, the "containers" (the museum) refers to past. Would the best solution be to make a clean sweep of the past?

Mca Finance, the blue chip Angers portfolio management company, once again rewarded

 La société angevine de gestion de portefeuille Mca Finance vient d'être récompensée par Thomson Reuters, groupe mondial d'information professionnelle, financière et juridique, pour sa gestion de fonds. Il y a quelque mois, cet opérateur angevin agréé par l'Autorité des marchés financiers avait été récompensé par un autre groupe de presse d'actualité économique et financière, l'Agefi.

McaFinance, the Angers porfolio management company, has been rewarded for its three years management of a funds called "Pbl growth" in the Lipper Fund Award 2014, granted by the rating agency Thomson Reuters. That is the second aknowledgment Mca Finances receives in a few months. In November 2013, that little and independant company located on Paul Bert street and created in 1987, had already got a recognition by the Agefi, the French economic and financial news group, for its management of another funds, Mca Gestoblig, on a three years period.

Managed by Patrick Creuzé, Catherine Dagorn and Michel Berson, Mca Finance, holder of an authorization from the French Autorité des marchés financiers, is one of the rare independant companies in Western France whose capital belongs the company founders and executives. It manages shares, bonds, derivative instruments and options, all equities used on the financial markets. Its twelve employees mainly work for customers coming from Western France and Paris agglomeration. The assets entrusted to Mca finance sum up 350 millions euros and the company how know is nation wide admitted by its peers. 

The Mca finance executive in charge of the financial instruments lately awarded is Pierre-Yves Le Goff (for the Pbl growth) while another one, Cyril Renaudin, got a similar prize last November.

Kfc looks ok for Angers

Déjà annoncée voici trois ans, l'arrivée à Angers de la chaîne américaine Kentucky Fried Chickens pourrait se concrétiser fin 2014 début 2015. Le souhait de la ville d'accueillir des enseignes internationales avait été évoqué par le maire d'Angers lors de la campagne électorale. Un temps pressentie dans le quartier Saint-Serge, l'implantation verrait le jour au sein de la zone commerciale Espace Anjou.

A new symbol of the English-speaking countries should arrive in Angers. After the McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Manhattan'store fast food counters, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the American restaurants chain should open a new outlet in Angers at the end of the year or at the beginning of the next. The counter would set up in the commercial area Espace Anjou. A planning permission has been submitted to the Angers town hall last February for that first outlet. The study of the Kfc file should last several months but should be favourably considered.

The news of an arrival of Kfc was already reported in spring 2011 and later, Christophe Béchu, Angers mayor, made clear during his electoral campaign that he wanted a new Us brand be soon active in the city. Kfc and Starbucks were quoted. The Us chain is already active in Maine-et-Loire (at Cholet) as well as in Western cities like Nantes and Le Mans. The Kfc's leading product is pressure fried chicken pieces, seasoned with Sander's recipe of herbs and spices. The constituents of the recipe are secret. The chain arrived in France in 1991 and employs around 2,000 persons in around 160 restaurants.

Headquartered in Louisville (Kentucky, Usa), Kfc is the second world largest restaurant chain (according to the sales) after McDonald's with 18,875 outlets in 118 countries as of December 2013. The company is a subsidiary of an American restaurant holding which also owns Pizza Hut. KFC was founded by Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from a roadside restaurant in that Us state during the Great Depression. The founder of Kfc branded himself as "Colonel Sanders" and became a prominent figure of American cultural history and his image remains widely put forward in Kfc communication.

The town councillors duly act of "difficult times" through their allocations and the city finances

A l'exception de quelques petites remarques faites par la nouvelle opposition, le deuxième conseil municipal de la mandature s'est déroulée de manière plutôt apaisée, contrastant en cela, avec les dernières journées de la campagne électorale. L'assemblée a voté une baisse de 5% des indemnités de fonctions de ses membres par rapport à celles versées à la précédente assemblée, rigueur des temps oblige, et nommé tous ses représentants. Mais d'autres sujets plus politiques sont attendus, tels la concertation sur les rythmes scolaires et l'audit sur les finances de la ville. Les débats pourraient devenir moins consensuels.

Christophe Béchu

After an intense, and sometimes tough, electoral campaign, the second session of the city council, on April 14th, took place without arguments between the new majority and minority. A fortnight after the political swing from left to right, the topics due to be discussed that day had no political content, except the allocations the members of the assembly will receive during the term (6 years). The town councillors decided that their office allocations will be lowered by 5% compared with those the city council members got during the previous term. "In difficult times, we have to make efforts", stated the mayor, Christophe Béchu.

Michelle Moreau

The allocation he will personaly receive has been set at 2 756 euros (gross) per month. If such an anmount is twice less important than Frédéric Béatse's allocation, the decrease is due to the rules limitating the holding of multiple offices and the allocations allocation (Mr. Béchu, as senator, already receives 7 100 euros). The mayor also stated that his cabinet will be constituted by five persons.

The first deputy mayor, Michelle Moreau, will receive the same amount (2 756 euros) while the others 20 deputy mayors will get 2 000 euros, the 21 delegate town councillors 700 euros and the simple town councillors (i.e. members of the minority) 285 euros. The total amount of the offices allocations paid to all the town councillors are by 25% below the upper limit set by the law for an assembly of 55 persons (they were 59 until march 2014).

Gilles Mahé

A new article will be included in the rules of the Angers city council making that the office allocations will be linked to the assiduousness. A little sparring took place between the mayor and Gilles Mahé, town councillor (and former deputy mayor) about the statements of assets "Mine is already published since February", answered Christophe Béchu who added that his deputy mayor will have to month to do the same.

Luc Belot

After the mayor invited the city council to appoint its delegates in dozens of authorities connected to the Angers town hall, that one also announced that two more political issues will be on the agenda of the next session planned on May 26th : the audit about the finances of Angers city and another one about the scholar rythms. About the scholar rythms, the assembly decided that a consultation would be launched to families, teachers and associations what led Luc Belot, former deputy mayor and now town councillor, to remind that "such a work had already been implemented". But the mayor pointed out that an internet site would be opened to collect the opinions of people.

Regarding the financial audit, it will tackle the operating expenses of the city, the investments, the debt and the room for manoeuvre. "We wish that the purchaser of the survey will work on speficifications instead of accusations", warned for the minority, Anthony Taillefait. So the next meetings could be more strained...

The reduction of the number of French regions may constitute a turning point for Angers

Les nouvelles autorités angevines devront, à un moment ou à un autre, exprimer leur point de vue à propos du redécoupage régional que le gouvernement français veut mettre en place à compter de 2017. Deux sources d'informations convergent à propos d'un démantèlement des Pays de la Loire, Angers et le Maine-et-Loire rejoignant une région Centre élargie dans laquelle la cité du Roi René passerait, en nombre d'habitants, du deuxième au troisième rang et s'éloignerait du centre de décisions. Une session extraordinaire du Conseil régional a été convoquée le 13 mai. 

The post World War II Angers history could be at a turning point given the reduction of the number of the
current 22 regions the new French government has recently decided to tackle. A few days ago, the Challenges magazine has published a map of 12 regions which is said that it could be the one choosen by Manuel Valls, the new prime minister. According to that map, the Pays de la Loire region, of which the Maine-et-Loire and so Angers are parts, will purely and solely be dismantled. Such an evolution looks to be believable because the president of the Pays de la Loire authority, Jacques Auxiette, has called in an extraordinary session of the Conseil régional saying that "the unity of the {region was} at stake".


The governmental scheme plans to include the Maine-et-Loire department (as the Sarthe and the Mayenne) in an enlarged Centre region and so locates Angers at the border of it. The former Pays de la Loire capital, Nantes would join an enlarged Brittany region in which the Loire-Atlantique department was part before the WW2 while the Vendée would become part of a Aquitaine-Limousin region.  Angers and Nantes never have in the past close and confident relations and the first was often blamed by the second to siphon the assets of Angers which was the second town of that territory.

According to Insee datas, Angers and its surroundings (216 000 inhabitants) would not keep the same rank in the Centre region, in which Tours would be first (346 000) and Orléans the second (270 000). If Angers is located at 90 km from Nantes, about 130 km separate Angers and Tours. The new Angers mayor, Christophe Béchu, had disclosed a few months ago he was not in favour of the unification of the Maine et Loire in a widened Centre region because the city would then be at the doundaries of it. In front a such an hypothesis, due to be implemented from 2017, the Angers city could only rely on itself for getting more economical development. But is that new?

The boring atmosphere of Angers on Sundays pointed out in the news

Le Courrier de l'Ouest a publié dans son édition dominicale un article dans lequel il liste un certain nombre d'activités culturelles auxquelles ses lecteurs peuvent prendre intérêt : musées, expositions, concerts, théâtre. Mais la partie la plus intéressante de l'article, voire même la plus intriguante, est son titre : "Angers quoi faire pour ne pas s'ennuyer le dimanche". Le quotidien écrit noir sur blanc que la ville est propice à l'ennui le 7ème jour. Le constat n'avait jamais été admis par la précédente municipalité. La nouvelle verra-t-elle les choses sous un autre angle?

The daily Le Courrier de l'Ouest published on its weekend issue an article telling to its readers what was possible to see in Angers and around on Sunday.  Museum, concert, exhibition and theatre were some of the possible activities available for families within the city and beyond. But, the content of the article is maybe not its most interesting part. What is intriguing is... the title : "Angers, what to do in order not to get bored that Sunday".

The newspaper admits that on Sunday, the day the (former) Angers representatives wanted as a period dedicated by the inhabitants to their families instead of going for shoppping, can be for them a boring moment. Of course, some cultural leisures are possible but all of them are charged (the prices of the activities spotted by the Courrier range from 4 to 10 euros per person, more the costs of the gas needed to go to the places those events are located). The title may also suggest that without those events, Angers is a boring city on Sunday and for people, the risk to get bored all day long may come from the fact they will not attend or take part to the events listed by the daily.

But, why Angers should be a boring place on Sunday and would be a lively place during the other days? The big difference comes of course of the closure of the stores and if there is nothing to see or to buy, is it worth to go to down town? The atmosphere of the city centre is rather sad when all the front windows are not lighted, when the store doors are shut and the shop owners and customers away. It could be up to the new municipal team to stimulate hustle and bustle, as well as business, in the core of the city which desperately need both of them.

The "Tout Angers bouge" sport event hits the trails

La popularité des trails urbains de l'opération "Tout Angers bouge" ne se dément pas. En quelques semaines, les organisateurs ont clôturé les incriptions à trois des quatre courses, le nombre maximal de participants étant atteint. La Maine et ses rives sont au coeur de l'événement de même que la possibilité d'utiliser l'espace urbain à des fins sportives. La nouvelle municipalité devra sans doute intégrer ces nouvelles visions du coeur de ville dans ses projets.

The 2014 edition of "Tout Angers bouge", planned on June 8th, is already closed. Opened on February 20th, the registrations for the Discovery trail, the Cité trail and the Roi René trail have been closed. On March 18th,  the organizers noticed that the maximum number of competitors had been reached for the second (11 km) and the third (22 km) trials : 1 100 persons. And on April 10th, no more registrations were possible for the Discover trail (8 km). For the last trail ( The Dukes trail on 43 km), "a few bibs are still available", on April 10th.

Apparently, that sport event has conquered the interest of the inhabitants and competitors from other cities. Its originality probably comes from the trails which go throughout the city as well as its historical heritage and which "put back man in the centre of the public space" invaded by cars. So the banks of Maine and their surrondings will display a very different aspect. A sports village will be set up on the Jean Turc walk where dozens of Angers sports associations will explain their activities. The speed way will be closed and people will have access to the river. The event was largely used by the former city council to promote its project regarding the Maine banks reconquest.

The new municipal team had announced in its programme that the content of the scheme and its planning will be changed. But the attendance recorded by Tout Angers bouge suggests that a new lay out of the place is considered by the Angevins as something necessary. 

Blast wave inside the Angers section of the Parti socialiste after the municipal defeat

Le basculement à droite de la ville d'Angers après quelque 37 ans de gouvernance socialiste commence à produire une onde de choc au sein du parti jusque là dominant. La dernière démission d'Anne-Sophie Hocquet de Lajartre, maire socialiste battue à Bouchemaine, fait écho à celle de Jean-Luc Rotureau. De son côté, Frédéric Béatse, ancien maire d'Angers, a publiquement fait état de son amertume au sujet de sa mise à l'écart des candidats déjà annoncés par le secrétaire angevin du Ps pour... 2020. Un autre figure proéminente, le député-maire de Trélazé, Marc Goua, reconnait que des erreurs ont été commises pendant la campagne

Grégory Blanc

The swing of the Angers city from left to right with the defeat of Frédéric Béatse and the election of Christophe Béchu is not, apparently, without consequences for the local section of the Parti socialiste. After the resignation of Jean-Luc Rotureau who failed to get primaries for the designation of the socialist candidate to the municipal elections, after the bitter observation Mr. Béatse expressed in the first session of the city council about the fact he would not be, neither than Mr. Rotureau, choosen by the Parti to be its candidate in 2020 municipal polls, another prominent character of the Angers socialist network has announced her departure. Anne-Sophie Hocquet de Lajartre, since March 30th former mayor of Bouchemaine, made public a letter she wrote to Grégory Blanc, the Maine-et-Loire socialist head, in which she informs him about her departure but also expresses several griefs regarding the behaviour of that political formation for the last years.

Anne-Sophie Hocquet de Lajartre (left), Frédéric Béatse (centre)

Mrs. Hoc-quet de Lajartre first admits she made a mistake in 2013 when she didn't publicly demanded that open primaries be organized in Angers : this is "one of my most important remorses for the term which just ended". But the former socialist member blames Mr. Blanc for having officialy dismissed that Frédéric Béatse and Jean-Luc Rotureau would not be the candidates the Parti socialiste would support in 2020. "How can we already decide who will be candidate in 2020 and who will not be?", asks the outgoing supporter who goes on "Saying that, I don't accuse the first federal secretary [Grégory Blanc] but those who prevented him to act and who decide about candidates like horses are choosen before a race. It's time for the party I'am leaving to get rid of feudal customs".

Another prominent socialist character in Maine-et-Loire, Marc Goua, re-elected as Trélazé mayor and

Marc Goua

member of parliament, made self-criticism after the municipal outcome : "mistakes have been punished : Jean-Luc Rotureau's case, the very clumsy letter sent between the inter-rounds (in which the former Angers mayors warns voters about negative consequences of a Christophe Béchu's election]. A local representative must be close to the people, explain, listen, what probably was not done at the time of the triumphal announcement of the implementation of the scholar rythms reform" led by the Angers socialist Mp, Luc Belot.

Luc Belot

Will those critics be taken into account? And if so, when? It looks very unlikely that will be soon because the European elections are in sight. A new defeat of Socialist could prompt some changes. A topic which made Christophe Béchu elected as Angers mayor.

Angers wants to get free from its jail

Le ministère de la Justice a fait savoir qu'une décision serait prise à propos de la restauration de la prison ou de la construction d'un nouveau centre pénitencier à Trélazé d'ici la rentrée. L'ensemble des élus angevins est favorable au transfert et en particulier le nouveau maire, Christophe Béchu. Mais celui-ci n'est pas de la même tendance politique que le gouvernement et les finances de l'Etat sont plutôt mal en point. Angers pourrait rester captif de sa prison.

The minister of justice has announced on April 9th that it will make a decision about the future of the Angers before the end of summer". Two options are possible : to restore the current building or to build a new one in Trélazé. A few months ago, a delegation of the ministry came to Angers in order to think about it and the question was asked to the minister herself, Christiane Taubira, by all the Angers and surroundings representatives. Among them, there is a consensus in favour of a tranfer of the Angers current jail to Trélazé in a new one.
prison "

The issue recently got an additional importance because in the programme of the new Angers mayor, Christophe Béchu, a scheme has been unveiled consisting in the tranformation of the current prison to a museum of contemporary arts. Mr. Béchu, as well as most of Angers representatives, has for long criticized the current conditions of life for prisoners in the Angers penitenciary centre given its age and its over population. All of them consider the situation as "shameful" for the convicted persons, the prison wardens and the country. The minister, Christiane Taubira, who is due to leave her office in the next three months, has said that she was favourable to a restoration of the current site, probably because the French state doesn't have the first euro to finance a new jail...

It is likely that the new Angers mayor will use its attendance to "Les confluences pénales de l'Ouest" an event gathering law professionals, to remind his promise and to exert pressure on the state to transfer the jail. The problem is Mr. Béchu is, as mayor and senator, an opponent to the French government. So that one could be tempted to reject his application even if the transfer to Trélazé is probably the best option.

The current Angers prison was built in the middle of the XIXth century. His existence prevents any transformation of the surrounding district. In many countries, that building would be purely and solely razed. It is far from being an artistic heritage.

Angers secondary schools : could do better

Selon un classement national des lycées, aucun de ceux d'Angers ne figure au nombre des dix meilleurs de l'académie de Nantes. Le meilleur lycée de Maine-et-Loire ne se trouve pas à Angers. En outre, les meilleurs établissements secondaires de la ville ne sont las ceux auxquels on pense généralement. Si Angers fait la joie des seniors qui viennent y passer leur retraite, elle a encore des progrès à faire vis-à-vis des jeunes qui viennent s'y former.

A national ranking of the 1 555 French lycees for the scholar year 2013 has been published by the daily Le Figaro and it appears that Angers is not particularly in view. Out of 19 lycees of Maine-et-Loire, Emmanuel-Mounier is ranked 2nd, Sacré-Coeur 4th, Sainte-Agnès 5th, Mongazon 7th, Saint-Martin 10th, David d'Angers 13th, Bergson 14th, Auguste et Jean Renoir 15th and Joachim du Bellay 16th. The lycee Saint-Joseph (La Pommeraye), the first in the department, is ranked at the fourth rank in the Nantes academy and is 67th at a national scale.

But the best lycee of Angers Angers arrives only 10th in the Pays de la Loire ranking and 149th in France. The survey of the three last scholar year of that secondary school demonstrates a improvement of its success rate at the baccalauréat by 4% in 2012 and by 5% in 2013. Last year 98% of the candidates having sat for the baccalaureat got it. It appears that the litterary section is the speciality of Emmanuel Mounier. That ranking looks to question the most common belief about the qualities of the Angers lycees in which, for years, the public David d'Angers or Joachim du Bellay and the private Saint-Martin and Mongazon, were the most attractive.

A comparison between the Angers secondary schools with the othes of the Nantes academy reveals that the Nantes lycees are the leaders. But, before the Angers schools, there are others located in smaller cities like Chateaugonthier, Laval, Challans or Montaigu. If Angers is, once again, praised by the elders for their retirement, it would be desirable that the city be also attractive for the education of the youngest.

The reduction of the number of regions may lead the Angers mayor to put forth a European constituency

La réduction de moitié du nombre de régions d'ici 2017 que le premier ministre Manuel Valls a présentée comme un moyen de réaliser des économies ne sera pas sans conséquences pour Angers. Son nouveau maire, Christophe Béchu, avait voici quelques mois, proposé une solution à la fois plus audacieuse... et plus favorable pour la ville.

The new Angers city council, as may other authorities, in which the Conseil général de Maine-et-Loire, will, soon or later, be led to examine the possible consequencies for the territory generated by the reduction of the number of French regions, recently announced by the new prime minister, Manuel Valls, as possible mean to lower public expenses. If such a reform must to be implemented, it is sure the Pays de la Loire region would disappear and melted in a wider structure.

Christophe Béchu, new Angers mayor, had expressed an opinion about that possible change at the beginning of 2014 and, if he didn't change his mind, will likely push his idea ahead, as mayor and as senator. According to him, the future French region should be modeled on the european constituencies. In Western France, the constituency gathers three regions : Bretagne, Pays de la Loire and Poitou-Charentes. Such an evolution would have a important advantage for the Maine et Loire department and for Angers : to be at the center of the constituency. Mr Béchu is not favourable to the inclusion of the Maine-et-Loire in a wider Centre region because the department and the city would be located at its boundaries.

Such a reform would also set a new basis regarding the cooperation between Pays de la Loire cities.  Three of them, Angers, Laval and La Roche sur Yon have conservative leaders while Le Mans and Nantes have elected socialist mayors. "Incidentally", the scheme suggested by Mr. Béchu would also go further than the prime minister's proposals and stimulate the savings French public finance desperately need. That one didn't say if he will also suppress the most of the curent city councils : 36 000 in France!

"Municipales inside" the candidates

France 3 a récemment diffusé un documentaire sur les campagnes électorales que Christophe Béchu et Frédérique Béatse ont menées depuis les derniers mois pour conquérir la mairie d'Angers. "Les campagnes" car leurs quêtes respectives de soutiens et de voix ont emprunté des rythmes et des méthodes propres à chacun d'eux. A travers le film, les candidatats révèlent également et peut être même surtout leur personnalité et, consécutivement, leurs manières de diriger la ville.

The public tv channel France 3 broadcasted on April 5th a little documentary titled (in English) "Municipales inside" in which the two main candidates to Angers mayor office show a bit of their electoral campaign and a lot of... themselves. Two very different tempers were fighting for the same office. On one side, Frédéric Béatse, the socialist candidate looked, at first glance, to be the most trained to the municipal election, but who never competed as the leader of a list. On the other side, Christophe Béchu, the conservative challenger, senator, president of the Conseil général de Maine-et-Loire who had already competed to the office in 2008 against the former Angers outgoing mayor, Jean-Claude Antonini.

Those different experiences explain partially the mood and maybe the state of mind of the two candidates when the gong rang the beginning of the hostilities. For Christophe Béchu, who missed the election in 2008 (around 600 votes were lacking), the 2014 ballot offered an opportunity and a motivation Frédéric Béatse could not experience : the revenge. That explains why the conservative candidate appears in the France 3 documentary like much more eager than his rival to get the victory. It looks to be sure that Mr. Béchu has learnt a lot from his 2008 defeat. His campaign appears to have be much more prepared that the one of his opponent.

If the winner is indebted (as the looser) of his victory to his supporters, the France 3 documentary  nevertheless demonstrates that the Angers pour vous leader really managed his staff, his supporters as well as the audiences as a businessman would do with his employees, his stakeholders and his customers while, Frédéric Béatse was rather on a cooperative atmosphere. The movies show very well that Christophe Béchu is, in the electoral competition, the equivalent of a  whiz kid in the education process. The way the campaign was managed by the new mayor indicates it will surely manage the town as the former French republic president, Nicolas Sarkozy, had run France through an omnipresence. This is maybe a strangh but also a risk for the new mayor : to disappoint his public because, more and more, electoral campaigns are personified while political representatives are displayed, or display themselves, as if they were consumers goods.

The medias focus on the temper of the new mayor

Faute de pouvoir porter un jugement sur l'action du maire d'Angers tout juste élu, les médias cherchent à savoir qui il est. Les couvertures mettent l'accent sur un tempérament ambitieux qui, force est de le constater, a largement rencontré l'aspiration des Angevins.

Local, regional and even national medias dedicated coverages to the election of the Angers mayor, Christophe Béchu, and to his personal characteristics. Most of them describe that one as an ambitious man even if, in policy as in numerous fields, a personal ambition may converge with a collective one. Nevertheless, Mr. Béchu should be aware that, up from now, even if the content of his polcy will not - immediately - be criticized, his style in  office can be. An that has already started.

France 3 Pays de la Loire, the state tv channel, published on April 5th an article which introduces the new Angers mayor "in an interactive photo". That one shows Mr. Béchu, straight like a rod, in front of the circular table on the city council sessions, after he was just girded with the three colours scarf. The picture, through some technical landmarks, give to the readers some "indications" about Mr. Béchu's personality.  Called, "the Angevin Sarko", the mayor is "a young man in the rush" whose ambition "looks today fulfilled" after "a dirty campaign" in which he was under personal attacks.


France 3 also quotes a statement the current mayor would have made when he was a teenager (17 years old...)  to a school mate about his political future as region councillor, then minister, then French republic president. A few weeks before, the weekly Le Point, published a series of articles about the former candidate to Angers mayor office "The Béchu phenomena". The series starts with a "Radioscopy of an ambitious" and talks about his "electoral greed". All this indicate that, by some aspects, the temper of Mr. Béchu could the point on which observers will focus, meaning that the Angers mayor office is only for him a spring board. But the new mayor is surely aware of that and, moreover, that could precisely be what some of the Angers voters would like.

Angers city council and business circles agree on the decrease of operating expenses

Le nouveau maire d'Angers Christophe Béchu a annoncé son intention de rencontrer les organisations d'employeurs et de salariés. L'une d'elles, le Medef Anjou, l'avait exhorté, par courrier avant le lancement de la campagne électorale, à baisser les dépenses. Le MEDEF Anjou sera apparemment entendu.

The new Angers mayor, Christophe Béchu, whose platform was based on economy and employment, had announced just before he took office, that he would meet the local trade unions and employers organizations in the first weeks of his term. Probably he had in mind the letter one of those sent him  (and to the eight other candidates) before the beginning of the electoral campaign. In that correspondence, the Medef Anjou president, Joel Freuchet, had put forward three points on which Christophe Béchu and his deputy mayors are now watched out : the regulatory simplification, the conditions for the growth of the Angers economy and, last but no least, the necessity to decrease tax pressure.

In order to achieve the third goal, it appears that the standpoints of Mr. Béchu and Mr. Freuchet converge. "The decrease of public expenses is a priority in order to lighten taxes on companies", wrote the Medef Anjou president who, apparently, has been listened to by the mayor who has just made public that the next session of the city council will be focused on a "plan for savings". Now, all will depend on the timing of the decisions the city council has to make and the dialog its mayor wants to have with employers delegates. Logically, that dialog should be started before the savings plan. The means for lowering local taxes are also a point of agreement because Mr. Freuchet suggests that the city organisation has to be redesigned. And Christophe Béchu made clear that he wished to think about simplifications of the territorial organizations.

If the Medef Anjou wants less operating expenses, it considers that "a good level of investments is necessary", but doesn't give figures. "The measures you will decide in town planning and fittings, will be primordial for the attractiveness of our territory", stresses Joël Freuchet. But in that field, Mr. Béchu disclosed that even the capital budget of the city would have to be monitored around 50-50 millions € and some of major projects planned by the previous city council could be postponed, down sized or even cancelled.

Regarding the regulations, it is not sure that Angers city, and other French towns, are their main origins. But the Medef Anjou notices that some of former mayors choose not to be candidate to a new term because of over regulations. And Mr. Freuchet refers to the British policy : "no new regulation without an old one suppressed".

Letter from the editor

Angers Daily News posts may be published with some irregularity in the weeks to come. We urge our readers to excuse us.

Christophe Béchu opens "the time for action"

Christophe Béchu, élu maire d'Angers, a ouvert "le temps de l'action" et rappelé que la nouvelle équipe serait jugée sur sa capacité à agir. Les premiers chantiers ont été annoncés et trouvent parmi eux les rythmes scolaires et l'état des finances de la ville dont les résultats seront communiqués à toutes les têtes de listes de la campagne. Le nouveau maire a également dévoilé sa méthode : "écoute, concertation et dialogue", points auxquels il a ajouté "une exemplarité sans failles".

"Now comes the time for action", said Christophe Béchu in his first speech as the 168th Angers mayor who reminded that "we are awaited on our abitility to act". If anyone doubted it, the new mayor detailed the next issues which will be tackled in the weeks to come : the opening of a local Grenelle regarding the scholar rythms, a survey about the city finances, which will be introduced to "the leaders of the eight lists in competition" for city council and, before summer, a corrective budget about savings and emergency measures for streets as well as the first no charged hour in Angers car parks "in order to stimulate the commerce in downtown".

"Our project is balanced and consistent" pointed out Mr. Béchu who will focuse it on "Employment and economic development" adding that "the general situation can't be a screeen", as well as the conditions of "daily life", in other words the layout of the town. He also disclosed what would be his method : "listening, consultation and dialog" because "the inhabitants want to be the first actors of the change". The new mayor also made clear once again that "the town councillors were to the Angevins service" and so must be "exemplary, without a hitch". He also assured Jean Monnier, previous mayor, who attended the session that he will do everything to preserve his legacy.

After he spoke, his former rival, Frédéric Béastse took the floor. "We will not be a systematic opposition, but we will be left involved town councillors, watchful and combative", he warned, after having clearly blamed the head of the socialist party in Maine-et-Loire, Grégory Blanc : "the time for an analysis [of the municipal defeat] will come and the most attentive have already started"... Mr. Béatse didn't introduce his candidacy face to Mr. Béchu who got all the votes of the majority. Sixteen deputy mayors will tackle thematic issues while five others will be in charge of the Angers districts.

Open wounds in the Angers left after its electoral defeat

La défaite de la gauche aux dernières élections municipales a rapidement ouvert des foyers de polémiques. Le parti socialiste estime que Jean-Luc Rotureau "doit des comptes" et que ni celui-ci, ni  l'ancien maire Frédéric Béatse ne sont "les hommes de rassemblement" dont la gauche a besoin en 2020. L'ancien maire Jean Monnier, figure historique des Socialistes angevins, pourrait même assister à la séance d'installation du Conseil municipal.

Jean Monnier

While Christophe Béchu and his running mates of the Angers pour vous list are preparing for the assumption of their duties starting from the session of the city council on April 4th à 5 pm, the defeated supporters of Frédéric Béatse as well as those of Jean-Luc Rotureau are also preparing a new period because the left managed the city for 37 years, from 1977 until 2014.

The head of the Maine-et-Loire socialists, Grégory Blanc, holds Jean-Luc Rotureau as accountable for the 2014 municipal polls outcome. "Jean-Luc will not escape from a clarification", said Mr. Blanc who added "Of course, he is not anymore a member of the socialist party, but he is accountable vis-à-vis the left". Grégory Blanc would particularly know why an email from Mr. Rotureau blaming Mr. Béatse between the two rounds, finally came to Mr. Béchu and why some of his running mates attended the new mayor's gathering. "Why dit he go so far in the last straight line. He owes us some explanations", said Mr. Blanc who looks to evict Frédéric Béatse or Jean-Luc Rotureau from the socialist investiture in 2020. "We need a rounding up man", he bluntly said what is not encouraging for the first one, as new minority leader.

Christophe Béchu

A few days before, Jean-Luc Rotureau  was not more tactful and made the outgoing team the only responsible of the left defeat. "Those people didn't see, or didn't want to see, the rejection of their clannish system. Their objective was to remain in office at all costs. Angers is a city connected with the centre. The municipal team made a serious misjudgment on that point". So it should take time in the Angers left before the pieces be put together.

As if those political difficulties were not be sufficient, Jean-Monnier, the first socialist mayor of Angers, is said to attend the inaugural session of the city council (as well as the former member of parliament, conservative, Roselyne Bachelot, now columnist on the D8 tv channel) what will be help the new decision markers to suggest that the terms of Jean-Claude Antonini and Frédéric Béatse were only parenthesis in the city history and even disavowed by the historical character of the Angers left.

Christophe Béchu to his supporters : "be the sentinels of our promises"

Les soutiens de la liste Angers pour vous ont été réunis par celle-ci et son leader, Christophe Béchu, le 2 avril aux Greniers Saint-Jean. Le futur maire a exhorté ses supporters à se comporter comme "les sentinelles des engagements pris pendant la campagne électorale" et annoncé qu'un "nouveau ton" serait très vite donné à l'action municipale. Le probable maire n'entend pas suivre un train de sénateur.

The leader of the Angers pour vous list, Christophe Béchu, who got the majority on the second round of municipal elections, met with his running mates about 700 supporters gathered in Les Greniers Saint-Jean on April 2nd in order to thank them. Mr. Béchu dedicated a large part of his speech to pay tribute to more than 500 persons involved in his campaign because "without them, nothing would have been possible". But the likely Angers mayor also pointed out that their part would not end with the electoral campaign. "I ask you one favour. You shared our vision. We want to deserve your confidence. If we do not fulfill our promises, you will be considered as responsible", said Christophe Béchu who urged his supporters "to be the sentinels of our promises and the guards of our behaviour" under the applauses of the audience.

A large part of his talk was in fact aimed at the future town counsillors. "There is a danger : to become big-headed", he sent them, reminding to everyone the requirement of "a flawless behaviour : we are here to help, and not to help oneself. And the ethic, I will apply it to myself" because, during the next six years, "you will be focused by the Angers people and because the hardest things are in front of us".

The speaker also disclosed that "as soon as the first days, the new majority will set the tone" of its term. An example will be given through "the building of relationships with the stakeholders of the change" : the 3 500 municipal employees, but also the economic, social and associative decision makers he will meet soon. Worried about the inconveniences of a sudden demobilisation, the Angers pour vous leader announced that, in the weeks to come, an association will be set up and managed by the last running-mates of his list who have not been elected (12 persons) in order to keep alive the connection between the majority of the city council and the voters. He promised that a first meeting between them would take place "before summer".

The former candidate also came back to the final day of the campaign. "It was a long day", reminded Christophe Béchu who "tried to understand the way of the election was going to through the eyes of the voters - and the bulletins baskets - when we visited several poll stations". After a moment of incredulity, "I felt a mix of pride, gratefulness then the weigh of the responsabilities. I said on the last meeting we had that we were more and more conscious of the expectations for a new breathe in city hall because for Angers inhabitants, decline was not  destiny". Mr. Béchu has now six years to demonstrate it.

The change promised by the Angers pour vous list, now on the agenda of the city council

Le leader d'Angers pour vous, Christophe Béchu, et ses co-listiers réunissent leurs supporters le 2 avril pour les remercier d'avoir contribué sur le terrain au succès "du changement". L'équipe montante ne veut apparemment pas perdre de temps dans sa prise de fonctions. Le premières mesures, symboliques des évolutions promises, concernent les finances de la ville : économies et baisses des dépenses sont à l'ordre du jour.

The break between the second round of the municipal elections and the assumption of duties by Christophe Béchu and his running-mates at the Angers city council will be interrupted by a meeting between the members of the Angers pour vous list and their supporters. "The Angevines and the Angevins made up their mind for change on Sunday. They chose a new team and a new project. That was possible because of your support, your action in the field, your presence in the committee room and in the polling stations" writes the Angers pour vous team about that meeting planned on April 2nd at Les Greniers Saint-Jean.

Meanwhile, the foresawn mayor, Christophe Béchu, has disclosed in the local media the composition of his office as well as the first appointments and the hand-over of files with Frédéric Béatse, the outgoing mayor still in charge, as well as his deputy-mayors, until the first session of the new city council. This indicates that the new mayor doesn't want to loose time and looks to be decided to tackle his duties head on what his quite reassuring.

In his platform, the former candidate committed himself to implement as soon as possible some priority actions in a wide array of issues. The finances of the city is the first. A survey should be focused on the city situation as well as the Angers Loire Métropole authority and their subsidiaries. An amending budget will be passed which will determine "the first savings and expenses decreases". The economy having been one of the top priorities of the candidate, "allocations for new companies and jobs" will also see the light of day.

Because the future city council wants to strenghen the downtown commerce, "the first hour in car parks will be no charged". The conditions of the streets having been criticized, an "emergency plan" will be drafted and the schedules of the municipal police will be widened. All the associations leaders will be gathered in order to determiner rules of behaviour between their associations and the city hall. The will to associate citizens rather than to assist them will take shape through "a chart of rights and duties to make them responsibles".

A highly political issue, the scholar rhythms, will be negociated by the new Angers decision-makers "with families, teachers, communities and staffs" (in this matter, the outgoing majority was said to have implemented those rhythms to please the government). Last but no least, the Angers pour vous members do not want to be criticized about their personal behaviour : an ethic chart will be signed by all of them stipulating that their pays will depend on "effective taking part in city council sessions" what implictely suggest it was not the case.

Christophe Béchu will not be mayor, according to the Angers city website

Le site web de la ville d'Angers vient de révéler implicitement que Christophe Béchu ne serait pas le prochain maire. 

A little sentence about the first session of the new Angers city council planned on April 4th 5 pm could give to some internet viewers the feeling that there is no regard for the Angers pour vous team whose the first decision will be the election of the mayor. Are things already done? Maybe, and even probably.

But wasn't it curious to announce on the city website, in a headline : "The new Angers mayor, Christophe Béchu, will be elected on Friday"? Faux-pas or denigration, the news nevertheless goes on : "[The city town counsillors] will be called to elect the new mayor, Christophe Béchu, and to decide on the number of his deputy-mayors as to elect them".

Of course, an absence of candidacy from Mr. Béchu would be rather surprising after he made public on September 6th that he would run for Angers mayor office. It's also unlikely that a casualty would impede him to come after Frédéric Béatse. But, formally, the assembly has its say and was it the job of the city council website to jump to the conclusion before the choice has been made up? It is surely not the case.

Because, the fact is : the news was published on April 1st, a day favourable to jokes. That day, people use to say things that are not true and even insist on statements opposite to the truth. Here the statement is : Christophe Béchu will be elected mas new Angers mayor. So the truth is : he will not be. Two questions then come to mind. First, who could be the alternative candidates? Secondly, who has the paternity of the news? The current or the future city council?

Who can you trust?