Today meeting with Stéphan Rossignol, the mayor of La Grande Motte, president of the community of agglomerations of the Pays de l’Or and patron saint of Republicans in Hérault.
Stéphan Rossignol, there were only five mayors in La Grande-Motte and in terms of longevity, you are the second. René Couvheines led the city for 19 years, from its creation in 1974 to 1993. You, you’ve been mayor for thirteen years. Is your goal to beat this record?
We are not elected to break records, but it is true that when we are the mayor of a city like La Grande-Motte, it is a real passion that we put into our action and we necessarily act over time.
When La Grande-Motte came out of the earth, you were 12 years old. Where were you at the time, in Lozère, your native land?
No no. In Ganges with my parents ,. Going to La Grande Motte was the Sunday outing for many people. The road was not laid out as it is today. But I was looking at these buildings, these weird pyramids sticking out of the sand. It was still quite astonishing.
So precisely when it comes to pyramids, do you feel more like a pharaoh or a Mayan chief?
I think I have neither the image of a pharaoh nor of a Mayan chief. But when you are mayor of La Grande-Motte, you have to subscribe to the thinking of our designer, that is to say of Jean Balladur. Imagine this very young architect who is summoned by Pierre Racine and who is entrusted with the mission of building a city. It is something unthinkable today. His genius has made the city certainly architectural, but also a green city. And you know, it is also this second characteristic of the Grande Motte, a city which now has 70% of green spaces.
You now hold four different functions: mayor, president of an urban community, regional councilor and political party leader. Do you sleep little?
5, 6 hours, no more. It is enough for me…
Do you need a specific constitution when you’re a politician?
It is indeed necessary. Above all, you have to be fairly armored. You have to put up with criticism because you get criticism more often than compliment. When you have compliments, it’s always nice. But they are rare.
Politics is really your job since you only do that full time and you assume it completely. Before the Republicans, there was the UMP and even before, there was the RPR. Why did you choose this party and who is the man who gave you this virus of politics?
Yes, so me, I come from a family of workers who were in the textile industry in Ganges. It is true that the trigger was Jacques Chirac. I was an intern at the Mermoz high school in Montpellier, not far from here. I joined the RPR when I was not 18 years old. I had gone with my savings to take this card without telling my parents, who had discovered when they received my membership card by mail that I had signed up behind their backs. Which earned me some great shouting matches.
Have they been angry with you for a long time?
You imagine in Ganges, it is a land very anchored to the left. With working parents. Seeing me join the RPR was something for them that was not trivial. They told me then that I was going to be marked in red ink, that it was going to follow me all my life. Afterwards, they acclimatized. They understood that politics was a passion.
If tomorrow you decide to definitively turn your back on politics, what would it be to do?
First, I’ll be old enough to rest a bit. Then, I am passionate about traveling and reading. I tell myself that if tomorrow I had more free time, I would travel. Going to discover the world a little more than I have done so far. And take a closer look at the story as well. I really like the story. So it would be to take time because I do not feel that I am taking enough time for myself, to enjoy life. And we see today that, unfortunately, life is often short. It passes very quickly.