The Congress of Mayors opens today in a climate that remains tense between rural France and the central government. At Les Voivres, in the Vosges, Michel Fournier fights to save his commune.

He will not surrender. It's his Great War. Lost on the Eastern front: that of deindustrialisation and France with closed shutters. At 68, Michel Fournier is a regular skirmisher with central power.

Often acidic As at a dinner with the Prime Minister a few days ago. "I find you a little groggy," he slipped to Édouard Philippe, a fan of boxing.

The vice-president of the rural mayors of France is a regular of coups de brilliance. A Lorrain with a strong character. Able to sing "Ah it will go, it will go, it will go technocrats at the lantern" , in front of a livid prefect. Or to look at the head of state at the Élysée with a smirk and ask him: "Are you worth more than me? "

The case could have stayed there. Curious, Emmanuel Macron went to meet this village of 320 inhabitants who refuses to surrender. It was in April.

Projects defended step by step

Twenty kilometers from Epinal in the Vosges department, the commune of Voivres resembles all these villages in eastern France. Large, deep houses, the church and its bulbous steeple at the bottom of a valley surrounded by forests of beech and oak.

On the facade of the town hall, a wooden sign framed by a tricolor flag sets the tone: "Forever free and not embeddable". "This is the motto of La Mothe, the last Lorraine fortress to have resisted Louis XIV. But it did not end well. Mazarin ordered to shave it and the inhabitants were dispersed. "

He will not surrender. Thirty years of confrontations and projects defended step by step. First in opposition to a resigned mayor. "Why would the campaign be condemned to decline, plague Mayor Voivres. There is no fatality. Elected in opposition in 1983, this farmer's son turned commercial and who "knew the chomdu" breaks the codes. The inhabitants jostle each other to watch the games. "We were refueling. It was at the theater tonight, " he laughs.

The town hall is wrestled hard in 1989. But his predecessor does not want to return the key. "He ended up sending it to me. With the commitment to make the plastic box that contained it. " Beginning of a counter-offensive.

In his office, a Lorraine oak cabinet, a photo taken during the visit of the President of the Republic-his pride of nothing-, the letter of three teachers who underline its shady character. Self-deprecation does not scare him.

Rely on its strengths

Woods, agricultural land and old industrial buildings won by the wasteland ... This landscape with melancholy beauty, Michel Fournier knows it as his pocket. He has walked and promoted it with a commercial talent at the service of the general interest. "In my profession, I have always been paid on commission, on the result. "

In thirty years, the population has grown from 200 to 320 inhabitants. The key to success ? Attract families and create jobs. "We bought out abandoned houses and started building sites to renovate them. The ad thanks to a classified ad in the press did the rest. "I suggested to families who could not find accommodation to come to Les Voivres. "

Three decades of skirmishes with the authorities. Bankers are annoyed by rental-sale arrangements designed by the mayor. The tone also goes up to the prefecture, to the academy. He's holding on.

No donor of lessons so far. " There is no a miraculous recipe. Each territory must rely on its strengths. Here is water and wood. Elsewhere, it will be something else. And everything was not simple. "I had failures. The transplant did not take with some families. "

"Intelligence is not only in the city"

Today, the creation of a business incubator centered on wood is its pride: four young shoots welcomed to date. In Bo, thirteen employees, took root. She makes glasses, wooden skateboards and bamboo bikes.

From this peripheral France, Michel Fournier feels anger rising. "Elected officials in rural communities are under tension. We do not let them experiment enough. The law NOTRe (NDLR voted in 2015 and devoted to the reform of local authorities) resulted in some cases in a recentralisation. Solidarity linked to space, which is a chance for France, should be better taken into account. After all, we contribute to the financing of transport in the Paris region. "

More than Emmanuel Macron, which he hails the effort for broadband in rural areas, it is the Parisian spirit he wants. Not tender either with nostalgia cultivated by some elected. "It's also up to us to start with others. Let's trust young people. "

In the last presidential elections, its citizens voted 52% for Marine Le Pen. It bothers him: "They have the impression that we do not listen to them. But I will not give up. Intelligence is not only in the city. "