All students have been called to the polls since Monday, December 6, to renew the elected representatives of the Regional Center for University and School Works, better known under the name of Crous. There are 26 in France. These regional centers manage grants and assistance, catering on campus and student accommodation. The terms are normally two years but the 2020 elections have been postponed due to the Covid-19. For the first time, voting takes place on the internet, on evote.lescrous.fr, until Friday, December 10 everywhere in France.
It is the general mobilization for the student unions. Young people must be informed because the participation rate does not exceed 10% in general. “I didn’t even know there were representatives”, recognizes one of them. “It is extremely important that you vote because it is the students who will represent you and defend your rights to improve your daily life”, explains Fanny, in the 3rd year of speech therapy in Paris. She represents Agep, which is part of the Fage network, the first student union.
One of the measures that Fanny defends is a reform of the stock markets. A subject addressed by Emmanuel Macron, himself, in his presidential program in 2017: “This is something that has been promised several times and that we still haven’t heard about in practice”, notes Fanny. “We will continue to fight until we get it because it is really important and now is the time to make ourselves heard. These are not just elections in a university, there will be a more global impact with fairly high stakes for the students “, she assures.
Beyond this reform of the stock exchanges which never happened. Mélanie Luce, the president of the UNEF, denounces a record “catastrophic” by the Head of State: “We were promised 60,000 student housing units. In the end, only 10,000 Crous housing units were built. The result is that the number of students in Crous residences fell from 7% at the start of the five-year term to 6 , 25% because the number of students has grown much faster than the number of housing units. “
“We also have aid of 150 euros which was announced by Emmanuel Macron during the crisis and which never arrived.”
Mélanie Luce, president of UNEFto franceinfo
“There was a lot of wishful thinking but no real commitment, deplores the president of the UNEF. In any case, there was no major measure to help the students. “ The needs are all the more important in the context of the health crisis which has exacerbated the precariousness of young people, note the student organizations. The financial situation of many of them is still fragile today.