- After the first round of the municipal elections on March 15, there are three candidates for mayor of Nantes: Johanna Rolland (PS), Laurence Garnier (LR) and Valérie Oppelt (LREM).
- Arriving at the head of the first round with 31% of the votes cast, the mayor of Nantes is the favorite. Especially since it has allied with Julie Laernoes (EELV) who had obtained 19% of the votes in the first round.
- The outgoing mayor assumes this union and the compromises that go with it.
She is running for her own estate. And seems well on the way to win on June 28, especially after having obtained the rallying of the ecologist Julie Laernoes. However, Johanna Rolland, PS mayor of Nantes since 2014, remains focused on her project and her campaign, inevitably upset by the crisis. Interview.
How do you approach this offbeat second round?
With a mixture of responsibility and gravity. The period we have been through has been difficult, the country is going to be in a recession as we probably had not known since the Second World War. So you have to take the measure of the particular moment in which you are. However, I have confidence. Because for three months I have seen the strengths of Nantes: a public service that has held up, very strong citizen initiatives, a lot of humanism and solidarity.
Has the crisis changed your program?
There are things that started during the crisis and that we will accelerate. First on the social question. I see people who were in a very precarious situation and who are more so, and then people who are no longer able to cope for the first time. This is a subject that mobilizes me a lot and that we will strengthen. There is also the issue of employment. She was almost absent from the first round campaign. I think it will radically change.
And health, the hospital?
Already in the first round, I put health at the heart of my project. What has just happened obviously strengthens this conviction. There is a real subject around the new CHU. I think it would be incredible and even irresponsible for Nantes to refuse a major investment in terms of public health. All cities expect state investment and we would be the only ones to say no? I consider that what Laurence Garnier does is a double fault: a fault in health matters and a fault towards the most fragile, because it is at the public hospital that they will seek treatment. However, the number of beds is to be reviewed. I told the Minister of Health.
" Taxes? I cannot make promises. And I prefer to say it frankly "
Will the city of Nantes have to tighten their belts given the crisis?
We start from a healthy and very stable financial situation, this is not the case for all communities. However, of course there are going to be impacts. What order? It still takes a little time to assess the situation. We have, for example, revenues that have decreased, but we also have positions where we have spent less. I believe that recovery will have to take place while fully integrating the challenges of ecological transition. Our territory has a card to play.
Will taxes go up if you are re-elected?
It is obviously my wish to maintain the tax situation. But I do not know what will be the decisions taken by the state. And experience has shown us that the State sometimes demands a lot from local authorities. So I can't make promises. And I prefer to say it frankly.
Your alliance with Julie Laernoes (EELV), who was not tender towards you, is very criticized by your opponents. Is it difficult to assume?
No, on the contrary, I share this union with great enthusiasm. It seems that Mrs. Garnier and Mrs. Oppelt forget that we ruled the city for six years together, that we voted 99% of the deliberations together. So you have to relax. I, from the first round, said that I wanted a common list because I consider that there are more things that bring us together than things that separate us. I understand that Ms. Garnier and Ms. Oppelt, who also wanted a rally and failed, are disappointed. But it is fortunate that we have successfully completed this stage.
Major projects have still been suspended, such as the extension of the Cité des Congrès or the deployment of 5G. Your opponents claim that the city will regress ...
It's ridiculous to say things like that. 5G offers a moratorium for the time of a debate. Because it is a subject that poses questions of economic development, health, and even meaning. We want 5G for what: to allow our teens to download their series to their phones even faster? To help the development of telemedicine? I am sure that many Nantes residents will be interested in participating in a mature and peaceful debate. At the end of that we will make a decision. And I am convinced that Nantes will have been a pioneer with its approach.
What about the Cité des Congrès?
The first part of the project, that of modernization, is maintained. On the second part, that of extension, professionals in the sector say that they do not know when international trade will resume with the same acuity, they do not know if the share of videoconferences and physical conferences will be the same as 'Today, they do not know how many years it will take to return to the initial market level. So it seems wise enough, before committing tens of millions of euros, to take the time to ask yourself. And then we also have on our territory an exhibition center to take into account. Pooling is possible.
“It is a mistake to say that the match is played. In a big city something can always happen ”
With three months of hindsight, how do you analyze the results of the first round?
I think that the voters made a clear choice by placing the list which I am leading widely in mind. Neither can we hide the abstention, in reality a double abstention: that linked to the period we are going through, but also a deeper abstention which expresses a doubt, a disinterest, an anger that we sometimes hear. This particularly concerns me.
You lost a third of the vote compared to 2014 (around 22,000 against 33,000). Is it only the fault of abstention?
We must wait for the result of the second round to have a clear vision. What is certain is that we are undoubtedly the only list that has been chosen in all the districts and in a diversity of social circles. This is extremely important to me because the mayor of Nantes must speak to all Nantes residents.
The results of the first round in Nantes
Will you be mayor of Nantes again on June 28?
I do my best for. I put a lot of energy and passion into it, all my experience nourished by six years of mandate. We come out strengthened from the tests. It is a mistake to say that the match has already been played. Experience has shown that in a big city there is always something that can happen. The vote is up to the people of Nantes.
How do you convince them to go to the polls?
I know that people have very little head in elections. Rather, they tell me about the fear of losing their job, their financial worries, going back to school, possibly summer vacation. However, on all these questions there is part of the answer that is played out in the municipal elections. A municipal election is first of all a project, a choice of society, a vision for the city. So if there is only one message to get across, it's: go vote, go vote, go vote.
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- Johanna Rolland
- PS
- Elections
- Municipal
- Nantes