Nice-Premium: In your opinion, what are the positive aspects of MoDem compared to other represented parties?
Loïc Dombreval: The entirely blue region desired by the UMP or the entirely pink region desired by the PS is not the Region we want because it is a region of confrontation. The confrontation between the right and the left is sterile and has blocked projects for too long. This confrontation goes against the general interest.
On the contrary, we want a region for living together. We want the widest possible gathering around centrist values: social, democratic, and ecological.
It is our capacity to listen, without preconceived notions linked to labels, that will facilitate the advancement of regional projects.
N-P: How do you plan to meet the expectations of the citizens? (main commitments)
L.D.: The first thing, when you want to meet expectations, is to identify and understand them.
Regional elected officials are unknown to the voters. This is abnormal. It partly explains the citizens’ disinterest in this election.
We want local elected officials who report on their actions.
N-P: Employment seems to be an important point in your program; what are your motivations regarding this point?
L.D.: We have 3 priorities: employment, employment, and employment.
Employment is access to housing, access to health, dignity. What is more essential?
Politicians too often forget this when faced with budgetary choices: there is nothing more important than employment.
For this, we will help, through a regional investment fund, the merchants, artisans, very small businesses, and small and medium-sized enterprises: these companies do not relocate and are true sources of innovation and employment.
We will also help young people write the first line of their CV by covering half of the minimum wage if the employer commits to signing a fixed-term contract of at least 12 months.
N-P: The results in the European elections and the regional polls are not encouraging; how do you explain this after François Bayrou’s breakthrough in the presidential elections?
L.D.: We must remain above the fray and maintain our independence.
Saying that everything the Sarkozy government does is negative is a caricature. There is a will, energy, and a form of courage that must be acknowledged. Tackling pension reform is difficult but essential.
We must also be more incisive and clearer about our commitment to ecology and sustainable development: the long-term is in our genes.
N-P: What score do you hope for at the end of the regional elections in the Alpes Maritimes?
L.D.: The score that will allow us to remain independent in the second round. Because our trademark is there: freedom, independence, a new path, another way of doing politics.
