In their report published in May 2018, the deputies François Cornut-Gentille (The Republicans) and Rodrigue Kokouendo (The Republic in progress) portrayed a "Republic in failure" in Seine-Saint-Denis. A year and a half later, the government wanted to show that it had understood the gravity of the situation in this department north of Paris. The Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe, announced Thursday, October 31, since the prefecture of Bobigny, a series of 23 measures to help the territory.
On this occasion, the Ministers of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, and Housing, Julien Denormandie, went to La Courneuve. The custody of the seals, Nicole Belloubet, was on his side at the court of Bobigny, the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, also in Bobigny with aspiring professors, and the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, in a association that welcomes women with AIDS in Saint-Denis. Emergency measures have been taken for a department that is sorely lacking in public services.
The government plan provides for a bonus of 10,000 euros for retaining public servants, the recruitment of 150 police officers or the reinforcement of controls on unhealthy housing. The goal of the executive is to retain the 39,000 or so agents of the department.
In their report, François Cornut-Gentille and Rodrigue Kokouendo recalled that in Seine-Saint-Denis, the population needed more public services than elsewhere to compensate for its difficulties. However, the department has fewer teachers, doctors, police per capita than the other departments of Île-de-France.
The report of the two deputies also made the observation that the officials in Seine-Saint-Denis were younger and less experienced than in the other French departments.
"Five years is the number of years from which we lose the workforce"
Christophe Castaner announced Thursday that 50 additional agents would be divided in two neighborhoods, in Saint-Ouen and La Courneuve, as part of the daily security police. And by 2021, 100 judicial police officer positions would be deployed.
The police stations of Aulnay-sous-Bois and Épinay-sur-Seine will be renovated by 2023 with a budget of 30 million euros, while the court of Bobigny will see its extension by 2026.
In addition, to accelerate an embolized judicial chain, 35 clerks and 12 magistrates will be created.
For Grégory Goupil, regional secretary of Alliance 93 contacted by France 24, the announcements of the government are positive in appearance but they lack details. "On the bonus of 10 000 euros for example, we were not explained the terms of attribution.Who will have it? The police just out of school or the oldest?"
He fears that young police perform their five years of service in Seine-Saint-Denis to earn the premium but then choose to leave the department. "Five years is the number of years from which you lose the workforce, when young people come in, they are not necessarily tenured, and after four or five years they lose those people once they are ripe. and ready to work in a crew, "laments the unionist.
Grégory Goupil also regrets that no announcement was made on the material. "At the level of the car park for example, it's scary.In Bondy, they have three vehicles currently under repair.There are police stations where the BAC [brigade anticriminalité] has no vehicle, they move on foot" , he explains. "We always end up with a vehicle loaned by another police station, but it's not normal."
For cars, as for officials, Grégory Goupil denounces a policy of "undressing Paul to dress Jacques". According to him, the recruitment of 150 police officers in two years may not even compensate for the 200 or so departures of police officers per year.
"The issue of unsanitary housing is essential"
In the area of health, the government announced that five inspectors in charge of the control of unworthy housing will be recruited. Only two are officially currently in post, while "potentially, 10% of the habitat is unhealthy" in the department.
Élisabeth Belin, deputy mayor of health of the city of Saint-Denis, is pleased with France 24 that this theme was put on the menu announcements, even if the number of five agents of control seems "derisory". "In our territory, the issue of unhealthy housing is essential, as we can see that the most precarious and most unhealthy people live in poor housing conditions." In a city like Saint-Denis, unsanitary housing is a real subject, "she says.
Elisabeth Belin says on the other hand "very disappointed to see no measure on the psychiatry". The department does not have a private psychiatrist and wait times for a public psychiatric consultation or child psychiatry are getting longer. The department has only 4.23 child psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to 15.92 per 100,000 inhabitants in the Paris region). At the Robert Ballanger Hospital in Aulnay-sous-Bois, it takes 18 months to get an appointment for a child in the service of Dr. Marie-José Durieux.
Agnès Buzyn has not announced anything about school medicine, she too in total estrangement in the 93, where 50% of school doctors are not filled.
"Missed appointment"
"We also saw that it was a little light on education," whispered Elizabeth Belin. Like her, the chairman of the County Council, Stéphane Troussel (Socialist Party), believes that the education component of this plan is a "missed appointment".
The government announced a "pre-recruitment" scheme for 500 teachers. It is to finance the studies of fellows of Seine-Saint-Denis who engage in return to work in the department.
In addition, 20 million euros will be targeted by the region for real estate investments in the context of the split of the classes of CP and CE1 into priority education zones.
But in the youngest department of France, recently marked by the suicide of a school director in Pantin and the violent death of a high school student, these measures are considered insufficient.
Interviewed by France 24, Jérémy Mounier, professor of physics and chemistry in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine and member of the union South Education 93, believes that "it is not enough". "The Borloo plan put forward that it needed 50 billion for the suburbs We, at Sud Solidaire, three years ago [...], it was estimated that it needed 10 billion to the Seine Saint-Denis for all public services . "
If he judges the bonuses of 10,000 euros welcome, he stresses that they may not be enough to retain teachers in the department. "This bonus system has already existed in some cities of the 93. That stopped in 2015. There was a system that allowed to give 2,000 euros per year to people who settled three years in the city," says -t it. "But all the teachers of my generation took advantage of this bonus and, after having had 6,000 euros over three years, they left."