France Bleu Isère: how much and with what in your luggage?
Pierre Suzzarini : We leave with five vehicles, four nine-seater vehicles and a van vehicle. We bring collected material: a little bit of clothing, a lot of medicine, food, a lot of hygiene products, for children and for adults. These are basically the needs that are felt today.
Are you going to the border with Slovakia and Poland?
Let’s say that the convoy of five vehicles makes a stopover in Prague on Monday evening and after that, will be split into two. There is a part that will go to Ubl’a, on the border between Slovakia and Ukraine, to deposit a lot of material for an NGO and to potentially take one or two Ukrainian refugees. The other part of the convoy goes to the border between Poland and Ukraine at Lviv, where there, medical equipment and food are deposited. And there, we have a lot of refugees who have been identified to return to the Grenoble region.
Because you intend to return with 24 Ukrainian refugees. You also organized their reception in Isère?
The 4 X 9 places allow us to bring 24 people. Of these 24 people, half will be left in the Grenoble region: Moirans, Voreppe, Saint-Martin de la Cluse, because they arrive through an association in Grenoble and the other part would therefore come as far as the Trièves. There, there is a whole collective that has organized itself to manage the reception, indeed.
Many people are mobilized. Is this a will of the inhabitants?
It is a strong sensitivity. On the one hand, because everyone is affected by this conflict in Ukraine, that’s for sure. But in addition, in the Trièves, we have a bit of this long-standing welcoming culture through our history, since historically, it is a Protestant country that has suffered exile. So there you have it, it’s been a bit in the genes and above all, for a number of years now, we’ve had an association, the CARTE (Collective for welcoming refugees from Trièves), which welcomes refugees. It’s more like African, Syrian, Armenian refugees. But this culture of hospitality is very significant in the area.
Since the beginning of this conflict, we have seen a lot of people, but rather inhabitants who leave for this border. Why do you, as mayor of Mens, decide to leave with this convoy?
On the one hand, because I think that as an elected official, we must also mobilize. The good will of each other is very good, but the local authorities must also take hold of this problem and do their part of the work. Because I am at the head of a team that was elected on transition and on social issues, and on an inclusive world where everyone has their part and everyone must be equal. So taking and helping people in difficulty is part of our political orientation. As a result, whenever necessary, we are always in favor of taking action. I am also referring to the time when it was necessary to vaccinate en masse. In Mens, we opened a vaccination center for three months, daily. For us, these are natural steps.