News
Territorial and regional elections in France: Brittany to the left, Alsace to the right, Occitania divided
National Front fails in attempt to win in at least one region
Half Occitania to the left...
The Occitan-Catalan macro-region will have a centre-left government after an alliance led by Socialist Carole Delga achieved an absolute majority, with 93 seats out of 158. One of those 93 seats will be for a member of the Occitan Party, Patric Roux. Delga's manifesto includes the commitment to support education and promotion for the Catalan and Occitan languages.
The left will also be leading the western Occitan macro-region, which also includes the Northern Basque Country and the region of Poitou-Charentes. Socialist Alain Rousset, current president of Aquitaine, will become the first president of the new macro-region. His program includes a generic reference to official support for Occitan and Basque.
... half Occitania to the right
In Provence, centre-right Les Republicains will have the absolute majority, with the only opposition by the FN, given the fact that the Socialist Party decided to withdraw from the election race after the first round in order to prevent Marine Le Pen's party from winning in the region. The new president will be Christian Estrosi, whose manifesto conceded utmost importance to security issues.
Regarding language, Estrosi said he was willing to promote the recognition of Provençal. Some of his stances place him quite close to linguistic secessionists claiming -against scientific evidence- that Provençal is not part of the Occitan language.
The new macro-region that includes the north-east of Occitania, Savoie and the lands around Lyon, meanwhile, will be led by Laurent Wauquiez, secretary general of Les Republicains, also with an absolute majority. As Estrosi's does, Wauquiez's manifesto too gives a prominent position to security issues. The soon-to-be president also promised not to raise taxes and to cut public spending.
Le Drian keeps Brittany under Socialist control
Unity of the pro-French left allowed Jean-Yves Le Drian to comfortably win the second round of the election in Brittany (51% of the votes).
Le Drian's manifesto vows to promote the nation's linguistic diversity and to demand from the French government the devolution of some executive powers over energy and labour. Le Drian also advocates a referendum on the reunification of Brittany -but the agreement of the Pays de la Loire Regional Council is needed for that to be possible.
No members of pro-autonomy Breton parties were returned, as their first round coalition -made up by the Breton Democratic Union and the Movement Brittany Progress- fell below the 10% threshold and chose not to merge with any other list for the second round.
Alsace avoids falling into FN's hands
Alsace will be losing its current place as a single official region as it will be merged into a macro-region together with Lorraine and Champagne-Ardennes. Current Alsatian president Philippe Richert -considered to be a centrist- was yesterday elected as the first president of the new macro-region. Richert, leading a centre-right alliance, defeated the National Front and the Socialist-led list.
Pro-autonomy Unser Land party, which opposes the merger of Alsace into the macro-region, has said it considers Richert to be a "traitor" since he agreed to become the new macro-region's first president.