Cancer : empathy in therapy

Credit Picture : agents CHU Angers

If Angers is becoming one of the French, and maybe, European town most involved in the fight against cancer, with the current widening of the Institut de cancérologie de l'Ouest, located in the city Centre hospitalier universitaire, its efforts do not only consist in new medical means and material or financial resources. The Angers nursing and medical staff is also working on the ways leading to a better moral comfort for its patients whose existence is damaged, or threatened, by cancer. The goal is to implement a more human medecine which listens to and accompanies the sick persons.

Credit picture : Orl Chu Angers

Because cancer is now a very common disease, medical staffs are due to focus on their job : to care and to to try to save patients. The frequency of the clinical cases may sometimes lead them to forget they face people "who breathe, live, think and suffer". Sor the relationships between doctors and patients is essential, but also complex. In France, the issue has been dealt at the request of patients and led to a kind of formalisation of the announcement to a sick person of his or her disease, an annoucement with empathy. And that approach may be learnt.

Credit Picture : Ico

This is the goal of a course ot theatre delivered to Angers medical staff in order to make the anouncement of a cancer more comfortable to the doctors and their patients. Medecine students, young doctors and specialists work with patients performed by colleagues themselves members of the Chu theatrical community. If there is no good manner to tell somebody a bad news, some ways are better than others.

Candidates still gathering their running mates to municipal elections

The leaders of the different lists competing for the Angers city council are building up. The current Angers mayor, Frédéric Béatse who, until recently, had no given details about the members of his team, was due to submit the names of his running mates to the Angers members of the Parti socialiste on January 8th. Besides Mr. Béatse, 25 others persons will submit their candidacies. About one half is constituted by current members of the city council majority, others appearing there for the first time. But those persons choosen by the Angers socialists will have to be gathered in a list garthering delegates of Europe-Ecologie-Les Verts and of the Parti communiste, two organizations allied of Frédéric Béatse.

On the left side, Jean-Luc Rotureau, fomer deputy-mayor, recently excluded from the Parti socialiste because he didn't join Mr. Béatse, continues to unveil week after week the names of his running mates. Twelve are already official and their companions will come until the end of the month, included those who will be deputy-mayors, promised Mr. Rotureau on his website.

The Angers right and centre leaders are not inactive. Laurent Gérault, centrist, reaffirming that he will slower the expenses and freeze the taxes, introduced two persons and, among them, his likely deputy-mayor in charge of finances. As for Christophe Béchu, who disclosed the main lines of his social policy directed to young people looking for a job, mothers having to entrust their children to nurseries, elders and disabled persons, he annouced that a current member of the city council minority will manage those issues. If Mr. Bechu doesn't plan to lower the resources dedicated in the social field, he plans to use them "differently". Mr. Rotureau would have not said otherwise.

The kind speech

The speech of Frédéric Béatse, the current Angers mayor, on January 8th was obviously forced by the regulations about the communication of political representatives during the electoral campaign. Given the municipal polls will take place on March 23rd and 30th, the New Year greetings ceremony must have a genuine informative content without any reference to the next elections : what has been done before the polls and what will be done after them, as well as the candidacy of the speaker.

So, Mr. Béatse was confined in an exercise in style and was due to warn the audience about the possible disappointment his adress would generate. He was right to do so because the comments of attendance and medias have all pointed out the mayor's restraint. So Frédéric Béatse skilfully choose an angle above the municipal elections by highlighting the virtues of the "Angevin model". "The intense links of solidarity between inhabitants allow us to overcome difficulties more easily than elsewhere", reminded Mr. Béatse who also paid tribute to three categories of operators : the volunteers, the managers and the students. It is noticeable that his "daily worry", the "battle of employment", will need their cooperation.

The mayor has once again repeated his anger after the secularism tree was beheaded twice, the racist insults hurled to the French justice minister and his will to prevent the assimilation of Angers state of mind to shameful misconducts. Nevertheless, that rallying speech will have to be followed by more radical assumptions of positions in the weeks to come.

The estimated 2014 investments look "to high" for the deputy-mayor in charge of finance

The main lines of the Angers 2014 budget have been examined on January 7th by the town council and that budget will probably mark a step. First, because it was the last one introduced by André Despagnet, the deputy-mayor in charge of finances after 37 years in office. Secondly because it is also the last one of the current majority whose term will end next March after the municipal elections. So those financial setting, even passed by town council next month, could be modified later by the town councillors in function after March polls.

André Despagnet

First of all, the main cost items in the capital budget add up to € 28 millions and among those, the new swimming pool AquaVita (€ 11.5 millions) and the Maine banks settlements (€ 6 millions) are the most important. To finance those expenses, Angers city plans to borrow € 38 millions, while last year, that amount was only € 23 millions. According to a financial estimation until 2017, the first twenty cost items would reach € 42 millions what led Mr. Despagnet who will not be member of the futur city council to consider such an amount was "too high".

That project was criticized by Laurent Gérautl and Jean-Luc Rotureau, both of the candidates to mayor office who offered to postpone some of the investments. Frédéric Béatse, current mayor assured that those directions would not deteriorate the finances of the city and they were a signal to investors in Angers.

Angers has won a railway battle, but has still to fight

Credit pictures : Wikipedia

Between 2010 and 2013, Angers could have made a spectacular recovery in the railway network scheme of the Pays de la Loire, according to a comparison between two surveys published by the Conseil économique, social et environnemental de la région (Ceser). While that insitution recommended four years ago the construction of "a new line between Nantes and Sablé-sur-Sarthe... directly" adding that "For Anvgers, the relevance of a connection will have to be examined", the Ceser, in recent survey published last October, could have choosen a totally different stance. If the authority continues to favour the construction of a new line, it nevertheless points out that "the servicing of Angers, second railway station after Nantes in order of importance, must be taken into account".

Credit picture : Sara

The comparison reveals, in short, that in 2010, a direct line Nantes-Sablé would have avoided Angers, while three years later, Angers railway station should logically be on the route. For the city, things are completely different. The first option would reduce to nothing the setllement of offices, hotels, car parks, housings and the opening a South access to the Saint-Laud railway station the current town council has planned, and for some parts of the scheme, has already started to realize. If Angers may let out a cry of relief, the railway battle has maybe not ended because, the Ceser is not the ultimate decision-maker.


Because it is impossible to enlarge the current way Nantes-Angers already overloaded by high speed trains, freight trains and regional trains, there is no other choice but to built a new line. In times of scarce finances, Angers city and metropole, as well as the Maine-et-Loire general council, should be "on the same line" because an avoidance of Angers would be castastrophic with regard to economy... and employment. Sure all candidates to municipal elections have understood that. Because elections are close, they are on the same strain.

Demography : Angers' start of rebirth

Credit pictures : Wikipedia and Angers Loire Métropole

While the demographic evolution of Angers has been negative between 2007 and 2011, it seems, according to the latest figures of the census that the trend has been reversed. Between 2010 and 2011, the Angers population has increased by around 1 200 inhabitants. The Agence d'urbanisme de la région angevine (Aura) ads an observation regarding the number of main homes in the city. The authority entrusted to monitor the evolution of the population and the housing has noticed that there was an increase of the number of main homes in Angers : more than 1 800 since 2009 what, consistently, corroborates an increase of households, so of population. More than 75 000 principal residences were counted up in 2012 in the city.

Nervertheless, the figures prior to 2001 should be considered to settle the number of town councillors 55 from 2014 versus 59 before. If the debate has a technical content, its has above all, a political impact.

The decrease of Angers population is one of the critics expressed to Angers town
council majority by the minority and an argument used to illustrate that the policy implemented until 2014 was inappropriate. The majority replied that such a evolution was due to the urban renovation process which included the demolition of thousands of homes what, logically, led to a loss of population. So the return to demographic dynamic is something which should warm the heart of Angers mayor, Frédéric Béatse even if nothing is said about the evolution of the average age. The Angers demographic dynamic should not only rely on a ageing population.

The Sunday movies' cathedral service has believers

Angers town centre was very calm on January 5th morning. The Christmas mobile stores of Ralliement square have been removed and the settled shops were closed again. Ordinary Sundays are back. There is nothing to do in down town, except to buy some bread, attend the Saint-Maurice cathedral service or... going to the movies. Apparently, that is one of the most popular leisure of Angers centre inhabitants since the Variétés cinema, located on Foch boulevard, is now shut for good.

The Les 400 Coups are the single place for film-lovers and, with competitive fares, the facility attracts a lot of people. On Sunday, for the 11.00 am performance, a queue was waiting for tickets (€ 4.70 one) from almost the middle of Deux-Haies street and that, as soon as 10.30. They were people of all ages. The screenings had already started when the last viewers sat in the black. What is the most interesting is, in Les 400 Coups, all foreign movies are shown in their original language.

That should raise questions about the ways to revive commercial activity in Angers centre while most of store owners claim that they face difficulties. If, some urban layouts are always possible, will they be sufficient? It's not sure : schedules matching the lifestyle of consumers could be one of the answers. And all do not depend on town council whatever be its political mood.

The encouragements to register on the electoral roll for municipal elections have borne fruits

Apparently, the 2014 municipal elections are interesting Angers inhabitants. More than 8 130 persons have registered themselves on the electoral roll before December 31st, while 7 130 have did the same process in 2007 for the previous municipal elections. This is an important satisfaction for the candidates who encouraged electors to do so. This result - around 1 000 additional electors - is especially important because the Angers population has decreased during the late years. Among those 8 130 registrations, around 6 000 are due to persons who are going to vote for the first time.

All the candidates, whatever be their political trend, had stressed the importance of the municipal ballot and their message has been received. This could be due to the interest of Angevins for the fate of their town. The differences they notice between the plaforms : some projects will be implemented with diverging ways according to candidates. This is specifically true with the Maine banks settlement and the second tramway line. The economic situation the city experienced during the late years, even if the current majority of town council is not responsible of it, could be one of the reasons of such an interest. There are a lot of issues which may led the voters to consider those elections will be a turning point for the city, not only because they have choice between left and right, but also because, beyond left and right, for left and right candidates, the background has changed from past to present.

These figures do not presume of the rate of participation.For the first round of the municipal elections, about 59% of the persons registered on the electoral roll had voted. They were 63% on the second round.

Candidates speed up the gathering of their running mates

Few by few candidates to the 2014 municipal elections are constituting their teams. After a period dedicated to establish alliances, not always with success, now the time has come for candidates to choose running mates. Jean-Luc Rotureau, former deputy-mayor, who decided to challenge the current Angers mayor on the left, has recently announced the names of the people who would be his town councillors.

The first running mates of JL Rotureau (Credit : JL Rotureau)

If Mr. Rotureau on the left does not start as favourite, he looks never-theless to have already gathered his list because he made, on his website, the promise, that "every week" four new running mates would be officialized. The first were published a week ago and four others have just been revealed.  Some of them were already involved in local politics. Among the first four running mates, there are Rachida Ouattara, Marie-Paul Tremot-Streliski already town councillors and Samira Tamtouir, former town councillor. Others are beginners in local politics. A new group of four persons will appear on Jean-Luc Rotureau's website on January 6th.

On the right side, Christophe Béchu had introduced his first running mates a few weeks ago and has just added others more recently. Two of them were already members of the current minority in town council : Bernard Dupré and Gilles Groussard. His challenger on the centre, Laurent Gérault, displayed the members of his team. Frédéric Béatse - apparently - didn't yet disclosed who will be his running mates on his website Aimer Angers, the page of his supporters. The ability to gather a list as soon as possible may have political meanings for voters.

The candidates focus their 2014 wishes on economy and employment

If the New Year has for tradition the expression of wishes, it is also, while 2014 will be an election year, an opportunity for candidates to deliver a friendly and a political message to their supporters and, beyond them, to Angers inhabitants. Frédéric Béatse, Christophe Béchu and Jean-Luc Rotureau seized that chance to talk directly to their followers, and the first, as Angers mayor, is expected to follow a more institutional way through official meetings in Angers districts followed by a likely more political meeting on January 30th in the congress centre. 

In his wishes, Mr. Béatse reminded that Angers got several top rankings for the quality of life last year which were good assets to consider future with optimism even if major issues employment and economy will be his top priorities. In those fields, two schemes will be implemented : the launching of a new facility for cultural companies and the structuration of economic sectors (botanic and electronic) what led the candidate to wish that 2014 be favourable to jobless people. 

Mr. Béchu emphasized the importance of the choice the Angers voters will have to do next March in two ways. First, he pointed out that the city needs "a change in power, a new democratic breathe which puts again the employment and the economic development at the core of the municipal action" and stressed that "the time of computer generated imagery and pharaonical schemes was over" (a clear allusion to the Maine banks settlement) in favour of "reasonable ambitions" (the partial cover of the speed way). 

Jean-Luc Rotureau, who has invited some people to tell their wishes (peace between bikes and cars in Angers, schools having the ability to educate youngs or a place in a nursery for a baby), took an utilitarian standpoint "all who are besides me want to build a municipal platform that is helpful". Until now, Laurent Gérault didn't took the floor for the the New Year wishes but reacted to the last demographic figures regarding Angers and set two priorities (housing and economy). He should involve himself in that exercise next week. 

But, under those wishes there is a certainty : the campaign will be tough. That is only promise Angevins can believe. 

Angers demography : a symbol of attractiveness and an issue for progress

Credit Pictures : Angers Développement

According to figures publis-hed by the French Institut national de la statistiques et des études économiques (Insee), Angers would have recorded a decrease of its population between 2006 and 2011. That year, the number of Angers inhabitants was below the threshold of 150 000 (148 800 exactly) while they were about 152 000 in 2006. That situation, which has been pointed out by Christophe Béchu, challenger of the current Angers mayor, Frédéric Béatse, will lead to a reduction of the number of town councillors as soon as the next municipal elections. They will be 55 instead of 59 until 2014. But the impact goes well beyond the political assembly.

At a departemental scale, the demographic figures are more favourable. The Maine et Loire population has

increased during the same period by 24 000 inha-bitants. The number of persons living in Maine et Loire was 790 000. But that evo-lution is largely due to the natural balance, i.e. the number of inhabitants less the death plus the birth. So it has few to do with an arrival of new inhabitants came there because of jobs opportunities. Moreover, the increase in Maine et Loire is well below that of Vendée and Loire-Atlantique.

These figures could mean that the Maine et Loire and especially Angers have (no yet) sufficient attractiveness to galvanise their demography. Demography is, at the same time, the origin and the consequence of many economic evolutions. If candidates are unable to stimulate natural increase of the Maine-et-Loire and Angers demography, there task could be to favour the arrival of new households having qualifications as workers and purchasing power as consumers. That forces to work on the economic environment of the labor and the consumption, two factors on which the authority of local representatives are limited. Nervetheless, it's not a reason to refrain from doing something. That will surely be one of the utmost topics of the electoral campaign. Happy New Year to the readers of Angers Daily News!

2013' shades of grey

2013 ended on Tuesday under a dark, low and rainy sky. After the windy weather the city experienced the previous days, heavy clouds obstructed any sunbeam to appear as if the current year had nothing good to give. Altough the Christmas illumations are still in position, the Ralliement square wooden huts are closed, leaving pedestrians as orphans. The items people were eager to buy to make gifts will be discounted soon as if, with the new year, the values of the old one had already vanished.

The electoral campaign, which accelerated with the multipli-cations of the candidacies, put in paren-thesis. But next week, the truce will be over and adversaries will again compete with proposals for 2014 and the five following years. The common will of all them all is to strenghen the attractiveness of the city. The most visible scheme is about the Maine banks. It aims to gather the city around its river and make its banks more accessible to inhabitants. Another one is taking shape near Saint-Laud railway station and looks to take care of visitors coming to Angers for business. While the Maine banks scheme is designed to embellish the city, the Gare+ scheme, wants to make Angers more connected to national and region decision centres.

The first building of that new district, a car park rather unsighty because its surroundings are far from complete, has been erected in 2013 and other facilities are planned. The place, where in a few months works about an hotel, offices and housings will be started, looks more to a no man's land than a window display for Angers. But, from the worst, the best may surge. And if from the top of the building the city was rather unpleasant to contemplate on December 31, new hopes and assets will come from the ground and the sky. Happy New Year!

26th European First Film Festival : Lights... Camera... Action

A quarter of a century! Launched in 1989, the European First Films Festival, planned in Angers from January 17th to 26th, will be in its 26th edition. In twenty five years, around 3 700 films including 1 600 first works have been screened. Last year, some 70 000 filmgoers were part of the event which, year after year, highlighted numerous young directors who, later, became famous like Arnaud Desplechin, Paolo Sorrentino or Thomas Vinterberg.

During the 2014 edition, more than 70 films will be screened in six official categories : European features films, French features films, European short films, French short films, student films and animated films. Two thousands euros in awards will be given out by juries and the public at the end of the festival. A selection of films out of competition will be also presented in four categories : free style (first works made without any restrictions), next shots (films that were made by filmmakers discovered at Premiers Plans) and a selection of short and feature Chinese films dicovered at the Beiging First Film festival. Moreover, since 1991, the event has introduced public audiences to the work of young screenwriters with the readings of French scripts for first features.

Many local authorities and companies are involved in the festival and finance the € 200 000 awards : the city of Angers, the Maine-et-Loire general council, the Angers Ccas, Angers University, the Western Catholic University, Comec, Eolane and Scania. The composition of the jury will be disclosed in early January.

The metamorphosis is the topic of the 2014 edition. The festival gives the opportunity to discover film history and heritage thanks to retrospectives on national cinematographies, tributes to major and unrecognized authors and actors. One of them will be paid to Patrice Chéreau, French opera and theatre director, filmaker, actor and producer, native from the Angers region, who died last october. He was a partner of the festival. The Premiers Plans festival will also revive the Gaumont Variétés which closed its doors last October what illustrates that the city cinemas could become undersized if the event were due to become more important.

Saturday night, fever has gone

The Christmas atmosphere has left Ralliement square. On Saturday night, fever was going away, mobile shops owners were packaging their items, leaving behind them their little wooden huts. Those will soon move and the Ralliement square will become once again the heart, a little bit cold, of the town. From now, pedestrians who used to walk throughout the little village which enlived their weekends, will be able to compare the attractiveness of the place with and without opened stores.

Through the end of year market, the last weeks saw the issue of Sundays openings back in the front news. Christophe Béchu, after he suggested an equal numbers of Sundays opened, for mobile and settled stores (two per year), triggered the hostility of all shops owners. Those who come just for a month, with five Sundays opened, said that in that hypothesis, their presence would become impossible, because of the loss of turnover. The cafes and restaurants warned they would also suffer a lack of customers during the last Sundays of the year. Because of the municipal campaign, the deputy-mayor in charge of commerce, Jacques Motteau, forerly favourable to restrictive Sundays openings, expressed quickly a critic against such an idea and announced something would have to be studied.

The risk of the shutdown of mobile stores most of the Sundays of December looks unthinkable. But the implementation of a new vision of the down town attractiveness looks necessary. If the idea of a new commercial gallery where the post office is located opens new perspectives, it will not be feasible unless a complete new deal about the conditions of commerce in Angers down town : accesses, car par fares and schedules are the first questions to consider... before next Christmas.

No gift for Christmas on employment front

Sant Claus didn't brought any parcel on the front of unemployment. The number of joblesses increased by 0.6% during November in Maine-et-Loire after a decrease has been recorded for the previous month. Even though figures are not known for Angers and surroundings, it is now clear that such an economic and social issue will remain at the core of the electoral campaign in the month to come.

The topic was reminded to Frédéric Béatse and Christophe Béchu, both of them candidates to the Angers municipal elections and both of them said that they were only able to gather the most favourable conditions to attract companies and jobs pointing out they were not entrusted to act in place of business launchers. Both of them want to act on the positioning of Angers as a reference in the botanic sector and thinks a new design of the town around a symbol of nature - the Maine river - is appropriate.

But, beyond that point, people feel that their local representatives are rather powerless about the economic issues. These are, for each of them, the main adversary in the next municipal elections and may encourage people to abstention or even not to fit into the electoral roll, a phenomena all the candidates want to avoid. The success of the encouragements they published on their website in favor of the registration of people on the electoral roll would be for them a Christmas gift.

Servir Angers wants the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport scheme to land in the electoral campaign

While the Pays de la Loire prefecture has recently published several regulations about the start of the works regarding Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport, that facility comes back in the Angers electoral debate thanks to the Servir Angers platform. That one, which supports the Union des démocrates indépendants (Udi) candidate, Laurent Gérault, considers the implementation of such a scheme would severely damage Angers interests.

"What has been planned for Angers? Nothing until today. What will be the consequences in land settlement, railways and roads, balance between territories? Nothing has been planned for Angers, 2nd city of the region" points out Nicolas Cocuaud, one of the (next) Mr. Gérault's running mates, himself involved in the Collectif des citoyens angevins contre le projet d’aéroport de Notre-Dame-des-Landes and in Greenpeace. "This is a major stake for the Angevins' future and so, for the municipal elections", warns Mr. Cocuaud.

According to several political organizations supporting Laurent Gérault in his campaign, the scheme is also

Nicolas Cocuaud (Credit picture : Servir Angers)

ill-timed with the current situation of public finances which, already, leads to freeze many projects. About one year ago, the Notre-Dame-des-Landes scheme had been regularly criticized by its opponents through demonstrations in Angers down town and even an interruption of the New year wishes ceremony last January.

Left and right will visit Terra Botanica... accounts

The economic situation of Terra Botanica, the amusement and botanical park located in Angers and opened in 2010, will be, in the weeks to come, audited in its financial aspects and about the positioning of its image. Through that facility, the Conseil général intended to provide to the Maine-et-Loire a "locomotive" to stimulate the development of tourism. But, more than three years after it started, the recorded attendance is not as important as planned (the 2013 figures would have decreased by 8% in comparison with the previous year). In order to reduce the tensions on the financial balance, the Conseil général has given up the cashing of the rent, € 200 000 per year.

Credit pictures : Terra Botanica

In a presse release, the Angers deputy-mayor in charge of commerce, Jacques Motteau, and the Ponts-de-Cé mayor, Joël Bigot, greeted the announ-cement of the audit ordered by Terra Botanica president, Jean-Pierre Chavassieux. Terra Botanica is managed by a company whose capital is owned by local authorities and, among them, the city of Angers and the Conseil général. The issue, especially if the results of the audit are not favourable, could become a polemic in the municipal campaign, or because it's the municipal campaign.

The issue was already discussed during a recent meeting of the Conseil général dedicated to financial purposes. So the supporters of the current Angers mayor in and outside that authority could seize the opportunity to criticize Christophe Béchu's financial management.

Angers inhabitants opened to the end of year Sunday stores openings

Even if the final appraisals of the authorization given by Angers city to the settled stores to open two Sundays before Christmas are not drawn, it will be impossible for the next mayor to go back on the decision because of the crowd of inhabitants in the streets and in the shops of down town on December 22nd. The atmosphere was lively, in
spite of the weather and the economic situation, and in any case, totally different from the mood of the city on ordinary Sundays when stores are closed.

They were thousands of people in the central district and especially around the mobile wooden huts which, visibly, attract a lot of customers and pedestrians - as well as turnover - what benefits to neighbouring settled stores. Those, whatever be the items they sell, recorded a good attendance because - as all economic books teach it - the offer creates its own demand. So a lot of customers were looking for the gift of last-minute for kids and adults. 

None of the candidates to Angers mayor office will be able to forbid the wooden huts to open only two Sundays in December because these days are among the most profitable of the period given the Angers households do not work. The Servir Angers list understood it very well and in a press release promised it will maintain that principle for which inhabitants have already vote for, with their feet.

Angers centrifugal forces

The Udi delegate Laurent Gérault (right)

The Angers centrists will go divided to the 2014 municipal elections. While the national decision-makers of the Mouvement démocrate (Modem) decided to join Christophe Béchu, the Union pour une majorité populaire candidate, the Union des démocrates indépendants (Udi) president, Jean-Louis Borloo, officialy supported the candidacy of Laurent Gérault, his delegate in Maine-et-Loire. So Modem, behind Mr. Béchu, and Udi will fight on the first round of municipal elections. If Modem and Udi decided to be allied at a national level under the brand "L'Alternative", that alliance will not be implemented in Angers.

Bernard Dupré,  Angers Modem

"It is not the alliance [of the Modem] with Ump which disturbs us because that is consistent with what has been done since five years. No what is disturbing it's the centrist forces, Udi and Modem, are scattered", says Laurent Gérault. The Modem which, a few weeks ago, disclosed that the final decision was the responsability of the national level, explained finally that "The decision was based on the choices made up by their Maine-et-Loire members" and pointed out that "Christophe Béchu is the only one able to embody a new vision and to carry the hope of a new policy for Angers".

The Ump Christophe Béchu

But it also reminded that "the Maine-et-Loire centre can only be strong only if it is fully gathered", what is currently far to be effective. Mr Borloo's support for Mr. Gérault was as clear as the Modem's one in favour of Mr. Béchu. "I'm convinced that Laurent Gérault will be able to carry a humanist, modern and ambitious project in order to match with Angevins and Angevines' worries", he said.

But things are not simple because some of the Modem supporters decided to rally to Laurent Gérault, while others of Udi choose to go with Christophe Béchu... If all of them considers the Maine-et-Loire needs centrists, the Maine-et-Loire centrists do not need each others.

The wooden huts worried by an equal footing with settled stores regarding Sundays openings

One of the proposals of Christophe Béchu, who leads the Union pour une majorité populaire list in the next municipal elections has triggered a negative answer from the Christmas huts owners set up in down town every end of year. Mr. Béchu would plan to treat on an equal footing those mobile retailers and the settled stores of Angers regarding the Sundays openings : two Sundays per year would be authorized. If the opportunity the settled store owners got to open two Sundays before Christmas was considered by them as a "historical victory", such a possibility would be for the wooden huts managers a tough and maybe insurmountable handicap which may decide them to go away definitly.

A recent store owner's idea attracted... traffic

In order to avoid such a prospect, and to give satisfaction to settled store owners, Mr. Béchu can only decide to let all of them open their doors five Sundays per week. Such a policy would be fair among the two categories of stores : mobile and setlled. Why the latter, which are there all year long, would not get the right to open like the mobile huts which are there only a month per year? The idea of the candidate also worried some of the settled stores around or close to the Ralliement square : the restaurants and cafés where a lot of people come in for a meal or a drink when there is, thanks to wooden huts and the merry-go-round, hustle and bustle around
Ralliement square.

In his website, the candidate spoke only about the idea of allowing the openings of down town stores two
Sundays per year and publicly said that he was not, like his challengers, favourable to go beyond. Stores' turnovers and customers'behaviour would nevertheless push in that way.