The socialist president of the Haute-Garonne department presented his wishes for 2022 this week, a year which will be marked by the reinforced social commitment of the community, the advent of the Citizens’ Assembly and at the national level, the presidential election. Georges Méric supports Anne Hidalgo. He was the guest of France Bleu and France 3 Occitanie this Thursday morning.
Nearly half of the departmental budget is devoted to social issues. Has the health crisis worsened the video kept?
Of course, the pandemic crisis has also created a severe social crisis with the poorest, who are even poorer. And the ultra-rich are even richer. It’s an injustice when you compare precariousness to the dividends of the CAC40, it’s a real scandal.
You want to set up a basic income for young people. Did you get the green light from the prefect?
Not yet, the prefect is in full reflection. When you see the social situation of young people, I tell myself that an experiment with this Republican integration income of 500 euros maximum must be possible. You have to see what it gives.
The other event in the department is this future citizens’ assembly that you are going to set up in the fall. Explain to us, are they the inhabitants who will be chosen to debate for real with the elected officials?
Absoutely. This is a complementary file to the citizen dialogue that we have been practicing for six years. We held 450 citizen dialogue meetings with over 20,000 people. With this citizens’ assembly, 162 volunteer citizens will be drawn by lot with a geographical distribution in all the cantons. In 2023, we will also introduce the right of interpellation which will be interesting. Participatory democracy is essential in the defense of the Republic.
Do you hope to reconcile citizens with politics a few weeks before the presidential election?
We have been working on participatory democracy for six years. So it’s a fundamental movement that we have created and I think citizens want to be heard, want to be listened to, want to participate. We must re-enchant democracy, democracy, democratic practice, in particular by the people, through the citizen dialogue that we have established.
Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo will do a meeting in Toulouse at the end of the campaign, in early April, as tradition dictates. Will you be by his side?
Of course, Anne Hidalgo shows extraordinary resilience today in the face of the permanent bashing that she does not deserve and which creates a way of being inaudible. It has a project of 70 proposals which have been extensively worked on, which are fundable. So it’s a serious candidacy from a strong political leader in France.
Can she reverse the trend?
I think that social democracy has its share in France as in Europe. And today, we know a trough of the wave for several reasons. But I think that this niche of social and ecological republic is a fundamental political response. Anne Hidalgo was democratically appointed to the Socialist Party, I stick to that.
What do you say to Christiane Taubira, who has also started racing?
I respect Christiane Taubira but it is a new division candidacy because the so-called popular primary is not a primary. A primary is a debate on issues and programs, we have one to defend. This popular primary is a feeling in relation to the personality of the candidates. In December, Anne Hidalgo wanted to participate, but Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon refused. Why do you want her to participate when the others won’t?
What will the Citizens’ Assembly be?
The communication campaign will start on February 5 with a call for applications. The Department is looking for 162 citizens, who at the rate of three or four plenary sessions per year, will participate directly in the decisions taken by the departmental advisers. The candidates will be drawn by lot, they will be 6 per canton, from all socio-professional categories. This will be a two-year term, for which participants will be compensated when they have to travel at the Departmental Council in Toulouse. Those who do not have digital equipment will be provided with tablets. They will decide on the competences of the Department and on major subjects as they could have done for the basic income, for example.
“They will work in small thematic groups so that everyone can express themselves. We would like those who never allow themselves to speak to speak, to have confidence in politics again.” – Sandrine Floureusses, vice-president in charge of citizen dialogue
“It is interesting to see that in other similar experiments such as the 150 participants of the citizen convention for the climate, some people were completely foreign to politics, they were not interested in it. And they got caught up in the game, we saw some of them then get directly involved in movements and stand for departmental and regional elections.“, continues the elected representative of the canton of Castelginest.
A registration platform will be open on the Internet and on paper via prospectuses at the town hall on February 5. The 162 citizens will be chosen at the end of June. The citizens’ assembly will be installed in october. Other communities have already set up this kind of assembly but in smaller proportions, with 30 to 40 people, this is the case of the City of Paris and the Department of Lot-et-Garonne.