Tradition dictates that the ceremony of greetings is an occasion for a collective embrace, including in the political context. Positions and affiliations are set aside, as the atmosphere still feels the Christmas festivities during which everyone’s kindness prevails over rivalries and animosities. In short, everyone finds something worthwhile in the year that has just begun.
The ceremony of greetings from the president of the General Council to the departmental agents, in the presence of civil, military, and religious authorities, broke this unwritten rule to turn into a political speech during which the word “embrace” quickly morphed into “embrace” as in ignite.
Eric Ciotti strongly claimed the results achieved in 2012 with more than 1,600 projects funded. A happy balance sheet, as the departmental president chose to call it, while attributing the responsibility for the current and upcoming difficulties (the unhappy balance, to stick with lexical definitions) to the government and regional politics (under socialist colors).
In short, the good points for me and the bad ones for others.
Moreover, this ceremony undoubtedly turned too quickly into a political demonstration, raising the question of what the young college students of the Youth Council, invited to join the 52 elected representatives of the department’s cantons, might have understood.
Especially when the speech touched on certain foreign policy themes (France’s role in the Libyan revolution and the post-colonial issue between Algeria and France following the recent trip of the President of the Republic to Algiers) which clearly do not fall within the remit of the departmental assembly.
So, why discuss topics that are likely to provoke controversy?
Looking towards 2013 (the actual topic of the event!), uncertainties and concerns in terms of outlook remain: Employment, which is increasing (the Texas Instrument and Virgin cases are in the current spotlight), debt, an economy on the brink of recession, tax pressure, and insecurity.
But a ray of hope came from the words of the President of the General Council quoting Andrรฉ Gide: “There are many things that seem impossible only until we have tried them.”
And with this spirit of determination, Eric Ciotti laid out the course: The implementation of the digital plan, progress of the OIN with the securing of areas to prevent flooding of the Var (Papi 2), the defense of the stronghold of economic development and employment in Sophia-Antipolis where the SophiTech campus was recently inaugurated…
All with equal taxation!
Challenges of excellence, generosity, and solidarity which Eric Ciotti called on the approximately 4,500 departmental agents to tackle together through a rigorous budgetary policy.
Ultimately, we were too often subjected to a speech full of clichรฉs and thus naturally devoid of its institutional sense due to a pointless pure political approach. Extending a hand, at least once a year, isn’t better than a moral of variable geometry?
