Paris (AFP)
Vanik Berbérian, mayor of the village of Gargilesse-Dampierre (Indre) since 1989 and "inspirer" of the rural agenda and the great debate to get out of the "yellow vests" crisis, died Monday of cancer at the age of 65, said the AMRF he chaired from 2008 to 2020.
The head of government, Jean Castex, praised a politician who "passionately loved France and its territories".
"Its fight for rurality and for its inhabitants will remain an example and a model of commitment," he said.
"The mayors are losing a friend and a national and endearing personality. They feel orphaned tonight," said Michel Fournier, who succeeded him last year at the head of the Association of rural mayors (AMRF).
"In love with our countryside, which he traveled with a benevolent and complicit gaze, he left an imprint on the positive development of rurality thanks to his strength of conviction and the determining role he had in the emergence of a rural agenda, ”he added.
Son of an Armenian immigrant, who became mayor in 1989, this Parisian had become essential on questions of rurality, after his election at the head of the AMRF in 2008. This mandate then opened the door to the offices of decision-makers where he went. the rural cause: no to medical desertification, no to the closure of local public services, no to school closings or even no to the haemorrhage of businesses in the countryside.
President Emmanuel Macron, who had met Mr. Berbérian on numerous occasions and had participated in a major debate organized in his town, of about 300 inhabitants, had presented him in November 2019 with the insignia of knight of the Legion of Honor.
- "The voice of rurality" -
The mayor had played a leading role in the creation of the "rural agenda" presented by former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe in September 2019, including 173 measures aimed at "giving back choices, freedom and services to residents".
François Baroin, the president (LR) of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), also praised the memory of a "committed and passionate actor in the service of rural communities".
For the Secretary of State for Rurality, Joël Giraud, "the Republic loses an exceptional mayor".
"Our best tribute will be to give life and body to his message for rural areas," he said.
"Vanik Berbérian, enthusiastic president of rural mayors, left after a long fight," reacted centrist leader François Bayrou on Twitter.
"I think of him, so committed, so loyal and mischievous, I think of his family, of his companions. With gratitude," he added.
For his part, the Minister of Relations with Parliament Marc Fesneau praised "her determined fights for a rurality proud of herself or for her second country, Armenia", also on Twitter.
At the National Assembly, the deputy Élodie Jacquier-Laforge greeted from the rostrum "the inspirer of the Great national debate and the rural agenda", "a passionate, a defender of a positive rurality".
Nicolas Forissier, deputy for Indre, greeted a man of "quite exceptional vitality of mind".
"He brought the voice of rurality and our territories, these values of Gargilesse and Indre and Berry to the Elysée," said the leader of the right in the regional elections of Center-Val de Loire.
"He will be missed by the mayors of France," regretted Gil Avérous, mayor of Châteauroux.
"He was listened to, respected by ministers and presidents, by those who govern us. It is a great loss for France and for our department."
© 2021 AFP