“Lol” is all that the question of redrawing the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region inspired in Jean, 35, an Internet user from 20 minutes. He is one of the many people who gave their opinion on the possible institutional reform that Emmanuel Macron would think about. According The Noon Dispatch, the Head of State would consider merging the departmental and regional councilors to make them territorial councillors. He would thus like to return to the division decided by François Hollande to bring the population closer to the elected representatives for four major regions: the Grand-Est, New Aquitaine, Occitanie and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. While many people expressed their agreement or disagreement with this proposal, several residents shared their incomprehension of such a choice.
For “more identity coherence”
Some Internet users who responded to our call for testimonials find the idea of the President of the Republic relevant. They highlight the “huge” size of the “monster” of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, which covers nearly 70,000 km2. “To participate in a sports competition, I had to travel 630 km. Does that make sense? asks Bernard, 61. Back to human scales! Jean-Marie, 66, agrees. He too is a member of an association and this merger has only increased his travel and operating costs. Whether for activities or administrative matters, according to him, we need “more proximity”. He launches: “It is not a question of pride but of common sense! “Same observation on the side of” MichMich “which calls for” a return of historical regions “pointing” no common identity “.
The famous “it was better before”
Redrawing the regions would then make it possible to repair a “lack of coherence”. Roland, 72, finds that a “Cantalien has no connection with a Lyonnais or a Chamoniard”. Eric, 54, saw rather “a rapprochement with Limousin”. The same goes for Monique, 68, who points out that Auvergne has “nothing to do” with Rhône-Alpes. This is what “A”, 28 years old, also thinks. For her, “there are too great differences in culture, history and geography”. One thing is certain, according to Pascal, 59, “politicians did not respect regional identities” in 2016.
A step back would also restore “value to the territory”, according to Internet users. This is the case of Jean-Pascal, 50 years old: “Auvergne is a region on its own. It deserves better than to be subjected to a region without industrial and historical identity. Same fight “on the other side of the border”. George, 63, “never understood the need for [le] stick to Auvergne”. According to him, it is Auvergne which has benefited from the Rhône-Alpes region to “climb in the hierarchy of regions”. And Jean, 73, notes that “this attachment has brought nothing” so “might as well go back to before”.
Do not “touch anything”
Patrick, 73, finds that “the regions are complementary” and that the “great region” is now at the “forefront of industry, research, but also agriculture, livestock and tourism”. So you don’t have to “touch anything”. It’s not just for this reader that Emmanuel Macron’s idea is “a disaster” and even “a descent into hell”. Jean-Marc, 54, takes the example of Cantal, his birthplace: “The merger has reduced the chronic inexorable decline in employment and the flight of young people. For the elders, the regrouping is a boon which revitalizes a territory which had been curled up on itself for twenty years”.
Fred, 42, and Sylvie, 61, ask themselves, like many others, “how much did the merger cost and how much would a reorganization cost?” Christophe, 40, does not understand either “the purpose of a step back”. According to him, the current one “works very well”. And like Jacques, 72, several Internet users think that it will only add “a layer to the administrative mille-feuille”.
A referendum as an answer to all questions
Among these Manichaean responses, Claire, 40, nuance: “Merging the two former regions did not bring anything positive, but separating them again will perhaps be just as inefficient”. Same questions for Romain, 37, who is very divided. To bring “people who live at the ends of these regions” closer to public services, he proposes to “create local sub-offices rather than redeploy all services”. At the same time, he hypothesizes that a “larger region is perhaps better organized”. In conclusion, he does not know. He then lets go: “Why the hell is this reversal of the government’s situation? Lydie, 36, also wonders: “What was the point of all that then? “.
A quest for meaning shared by Stéphanie Pernod, first vice-president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region: “Obviously, going back would make no sense. The French are now expecting something else in terms of reform”. And the elected to add however: “This information is at this stage of the noise of the hallway and does not call for further comment. As for Bruno, he believes that the best solution to answer this question would be “a referendum like in Switzerland” so that “the inhabitants of the territories concerned can choose”. But the word of the end will therefore return to Michel. This 65-year-old reader is convinced that this backpedaling would serve the adage: “divide to conquer”.