a cultural tool but also eminently political

A “antidote to the feeling of abandonment”this is one of the ways in which the Élysée describes this International City of the French Language inaugurated Monday October 30 in Villers-Cotterêts in Aisne, a town of 10,000 inhabitants affected by unemployment and deindustrialization.

When he discovered the castle of François I in 2017, candidate Emmanuel Macron sensed the political opportunity to launch a major cultural project with an international dimension in a rural territory. A territory which now puts Marine Le Pen and her lieutenants at the head of all elections. Moreover, the mayor RN of the town is convinced of this: “If the president was interested in Villers-Cotterêts it was because we ran the city”he assures.

The Élysée confirms that this is one of the data taken into account, but that it is above all the state of disrepair of the castle and the economic difficulties of the territory which pushed the president to inject 200 million euros into the project. The result is hundreds of jobs on the site, which are transformed into around fifty permanent positions, and then prospects for development for businesses with the thousands of tourists expected. The place aims to be open to the city, it will notably host a bookstore and “a service of public writers to help complete formalities” because for the executive, it must also be a “tool for combating illiteracy”.

“Territory recovery does not involve turning inward”

This last argument is not the one that has the most success locally since some residents see it as “contempt”. Moreover, some ironically nickname the project “Macron Castle”. More broadly, the Élysée considers the French language as “a tool to fight against decivilization”. “The French language is the nation’s primary asset, it forms the basis of our imagination”, according to the President who will undoubtedly emphasize this in his inauguration speech.

French seen as “a factor of social cohesion, national unity and influence beyond our borders”. In this cultural place, we will discuss the evolution of the French language, regional languages, and the way in which French has spread throughout the world. “An approach of resolute universalism which is not necessarily that of the party installed at the town hall of Villers-Cotterêts”, underlines the Élysée. The president’s entourage hopes to show that “the recovery of the territory does not involve withdrawing into oneself”.