It’s the final act of “the redneck affair”. This Saturday, at the town hall of Cossé-le-Vivien, the president and vice-president of the community of communes of the Pays de Craon met this mobility project manager for the Rennes metropolitan area who, on December 25, had published several photos to denounce the use he considered abusive of the car in front of a bakery, “France which stinks of the 20th century”, before adding “don’t change anything, band of rednecks”.
I had to “make sure we weren’t in an urban versus rural war”
The author of this message had already apologized on the social network. However, Christophe Langouët, the president of the community of communes, as well as its vice-president, Dominique Guineheux wanted to meet him. It’s done, this Saturday, at the town hall of Cossé-le-Vivien. “The first reaction I had when I saw this tweet was that I had to be able to talk to this gentleman, and make sure that we were not in an urban versus rural war., explains the president. The second was to understand how we can get there, and then and above all, that he can apologize. Because I think his writings far exceeded his thoughts. And finally restore the image of our territory of the country of Craon, which does not deserve, like any territory, comments like that. “
The author of the tweet apologized again
And the meeting passed peacefully. It was important for Dominique Guineheux. “Beyond the apologies, which we of course accepted, we broached the subject of mobility, which is a subject of territories. We are not without thinking about it here, whether at the level of the community of municipalities or region. The president and the vice-president are satisfied with this meeting, which was beneficial for everyone according to their words.
But this meeting also had a educational purpose for these two chosen ones. “The goal was above all to show what our territory was, what the elected officials were doing, demonstrates Christophe Langouët. He is a person whose personality is imbued with very specific environmental notions. He’s someone for whom the environment is important, mobility too, since that’s his job. We were able to compare the constraints, the facilities on mobility in urban and rural areas. And I think he realized some of the differences between the two.”
The author of the tweet, he did not wish to meet the media. According to elected officials, he would have suffered from personal and professional consequences after this case. He has since deleted his twitter account.