It is a privileged moment between an elected official and his inhabitants. The mayors are reviving the tradition of New Year’s wishes, after two years of absence due to a health crisis. All, with the exception of a few town halls where sobriety and budgetary savings prevail, will be delighted to find their constituents. “We shake hands, we see people and finally we touch a lot more people than in the year”, observes Virginie Carolo, mayor of Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine (Seine-Maritime), who will speak “climate change” and will explain to the inhabitants the choice of the town hall to stop night public lighting.
Deprived of moments of conviviality with the population, the mayors elected in 2020 are particularly fond of these wishes. “I look forward to this moment with great anticipation. It will be like a mid-term review, ”says Fanny Lacroix, young mayor of Châtel-en-Trièves (Isère), 500 inhabitants. “With Covid-19, inflation, we are seeing significant social divisions appear. We cannot cut corners on conviviality, especially since the mayors have the mission of preserving social cohesion”, continues the elected official who is expecting 150 people and will call to “keep hope”.
A “moment of social connection”
Sometimes considered obsolete or assimilated to an exercise in self-satisfaction, wishes still attract the population as much as ever, according to elected officials interviewed by AFP. “In a normal year it’s 800 people out of 12,000 inhabitants, it’s not nothing,” said André Laignel, mayor of Issoudun (Indre) since 1977. “What the French expect is proximity. If we haven’t understood that, we haven’t understood anything about the democratic crisis. The mayor must use all means to be in contact with the population, ”assures the one who is also vice-president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF).
“It’s a moment of social bond, there is a real pleasure for the inhabitants to meet and it is a way to combat the ambient gloom”, judge Christine Le Strat, mayor of Pontivy (Morbihan). “If there hadn’t been two years of deprivation and if the news had been serene, we could have done without it, but we feel great concerns, people want to know where we are on the costs energy,” said the mayor of Barentin (Seine-Maritime), Christophe Bouillon.
Questioned, the political scientist Bruno Cautrès recognizes that this ceremony has something “purely rhetorical”. But we must not forget, according to him, that “one of the most essential functions of politics is to make a connection”.