No petit fours or glasses of champagne to start the year 2023 in Libourne, in Gironde. The socialist mayor of this city of 25,000 inhabitants announced on Twitter that he was giving up organizing a vows ceremony for the sake of sobriety, “in a complicated budgetary context with regard to the cost of energy”, specifies the elected official.
He estimates that around 8,000 euros will be saved in this way. The sum may seem derisory in the face of an expected additional cost of one million euros on the city’s energy bill. But, for the mayor, this is a symbolic measure, according to statements reported by Le Figaro, at a time when public lighting hours are reduced and heating temperatures lowered this winter, in sports and administrative buildings. A video accessible on the city’s website will exceptionally replace this ceremony.