Nice-Première: You are young. You are both responsible for young people interested in politics. What’s your recipe and how do you bring more young people to participate in public affairs?
Romain: Young people aspire to a new way of doing politics. They no longer want doublespeak and unfulfilled promises. They want a modern and ethical policy that takes into account both the evolution of the world without losing sight of quality of life. Since Nicolas Sarkozy became President of the U.M.P., the number of young members has tripled. This is indeed a sign of his popularity among young people! He knows how to start debates that affect us, and young people know very well how to say what they think!
As for me, I am a young person like any other with my studies and passions. When I meet a young person and they see that I am like them and that I am committed, it encourages them to join our Movement. Identification is very important. Obviously, the appeal of Nicolas Sarkozy, the desire to be politically active, the desire to defend values, and the willingness to commit are the main drivers leading to membership.
Sébastien: And wouldn’t you rather defend values, a vision of society than lead the local fan club of Nicolas Sarkozy?
Romain: I am totally in the battle of ideas. I am not a supporter of fallible humans but of infallible values: freedom, work, merit, social justice, and family. These values can reshape our society in search of bearings.
Sébastien: Since 2002, we have seen that young people are ready to mobilize in the streets. Anti-Le Pen protests after April 21, against the Iraq war, high school students with the Fillon project, of course the CPE. Every time, the youth disproved the assumptions that they were depoliticized. During the same period, during electoral events, we see that this protest is increasingly reflected in the ballot box. Especially for the next year, our message is that the left has a duty to win, and it is the youth who must embody it first. When we are in the neighborhoods, people ask us how to register on the electoral lists. So no, there is no recipe. There are discussions between young people who are part of the same camp, those who suffer and need politics. That’s why when the MJS organizes a caravan, it doesn’t go to La Baule or the Promenade des Anglais to distribute flip-flops but instead goes to Clichy sous Bois or Moulins to talk politics.
Romain: I don’t think that by going from Clichy to Moulins, you can build a great popular Movement rich in diversity. The French are not fooled by this problem of the Left’s conscience. The Union for a Popular Movement brings together all the sensitivities of our society behind a leader with values. The Left, frustrated at not being on the right, tries to copy it.
Sébastien: I must admit I don’t understand what you’re saying. You who know the MJS so well, since you campaigned there before working for Muriel Marland Militello, you know very well that our diversity is our strength. I myself grew up in social housing and when I campaign in Moulins, it’s my elementary school classmates that I find. So it’s quite natural for us. I mostly think it’s much more useful than distributing flip-flops once again. Oh sure, I didn’t have the chance to visit the seaside resorts of the Mediterranean coast while being compensated by my political party! As for the “frustration of not being on the right,” I have a hard time following you!
Nice-Première: We might question the University in France which sometimes seems like a dead end. Do you understand these questions and what solutions do you propose to mitigate them?
Sébastien: This question is interesting because it shows how important the left-right divide can be. On one hand, the right considers that a service has a cost and keeps telling us that the university is a dead end. As a result, it makes decisions so that, indeed, the university gradually becomes a path with no future. Thus, the funding granted for a student in a Grande École is four times that for a university student. It’s a bypass strategy to create centers of excellence. And this excellence is achieved through a system of selection.
However, at the Movement of Young Socialists, we believe that this excellence should be achieved by the greatest number. This means more resources and greater access to higher education. When you’re 20 in a business school class or 500 in a university amphitheater, it’s obvious that the chances are not the same for everyone. There needs to be a unification of higher education.
Romain: In a few sentences, here is the ideal method to turn the University into a dead end offering no future to the youth! The University must be competitive and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to work after their studies. Sébastien, your utopia may be pleasant to hear, but I think the French are tired of financing student hobby programs with their taxes! Let’s bet on a quality University.
Sébastien: But how do you manage, Romain, to accumulate so much bad faith? You tell us: “The university must be competitive and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to work after their studies.” Competition between universities will inevitably bring about the end of national diplomas, and thus, competition between students. Why don’t you tell us about those, the majority, who your “competitive” system will leave on the roadside? Isn’t that the dead end with the skimming you advocate?
Romain: I understand the fears of all those students who are studying without really knowing if they will find a job afterwards. Personally, I am for increasing the higher education budget by 50% in five years (i.e., +5 billion euros) and the research effort by 40% (i.e., +15 billion euros, of which 4 billion must be covered by the public authority). I am convinced that we need to create a public orientation service, evaluate and publish the reality of job opportunities by field and by University, and adapt the number of places in each field based on the reality of job opportunities. To do this, it is crucial to strengthen university governance and allow those who want to to experiment with real autonomy status.
At the same time, I’m for creating a single and dematerialized file for scholarships and other aid, extending scholarships to middle-class children. It’s also important to help students access credit through a public guarantee and create zero-interest loans, repayable after entering the workforce, to enable students to be autonomous.
Finally, I think we should value student work (notably by tax exemption of student income and excluding it from resource ceilings for scholarships and housing aid) and create suitable jobs within universities (library assistants, tutoring…).
I will defend all these proposals within my Movement.
In our department, the General Council has been able to respond to the major expectations of young people with the Plan Jeunes Avenir 06. The proposed measures target mainly students. They aim to provide us with a favorable material environment, increase our chances of success, enrich our student experience abroad, and promote excellence.
Sébastien: Many points of disagreement on this issue. Let’s stick to this famous “youth plan” which we have necessarily heard about given the commercial advertisements it received. This plan does not at all address the fundamental issue of reducing inequalities. To benefit from it, you already need to have money. What is your solution for students who are forced to work to finance their studies and consequently face a higher dropout rate?
Romain: Let’s be pragmatic! Students who work develop significant courage and motivation. A working student is one who gains professional experience, a network, and essential skills to facilitate their integration into the workforce after their studies. Often, it is the students themselves who want to work or intern in companies. An employer will prefer to hire a motivated young person with multiple experiences rather than a young cram school student who knows more theory than practice. However, the State must ensure that each student has the opportunity to study in the best conditions. It’s up to us to truly identify the causes of student failure: poor orientation, housing issues, or the lack of financial resources for Universities.
Nice-Première: 2007, an election year with the presidential and legislative elections. Which candidates will you support and why? (Note: Sébastien’s answers were given before Ségolène Royal was nominated)
Romain: In the presidential election, I will support the U.M.P. candidate. This candidate will have been chosen by the U.M.P. members for their program and their capacity to unite to undertake the real reforms France needs. As for me, I actively support Nicolas Sarkozy’s candidacy, as he seems to me the only one capable of changing France and deeply reforming our country. We need a man with courage and determination. Nicolas Sarkozy is that man!
For the legislative elections, I will support the candidates invested by the U.M.P. in our department. My friendship and commitment to Christian Estrosi, Eric Ciotti, and Muriel Marland-Militello in Nice are well known. But I will not fail to support Jean-Claude Guibal, Lionnel Luca, Jean Léonetti, Bernard Brochand, and Michèle Tabarot.
Sébastien: Aren’t you uncomfortable defending candidates like Lionnel Luca who support reinstating the death penalty?
Romain: Lionnel Luca co-signed a bill aimed at reinstating the death penalty for terrorists, I specify. We live in a democracy. I’m much more uncomfortable when freedom of expression is stifled.
Sébastien: We’ve been saying for months that our candidate is the project. More than just a slogan, it is a guiding principle for the unity of the socialists. Because without this unity, the left will not be able to win. So we will support the candidate elected to carry this project. The same applies during the legislative elections.
Romain: A project without a true leader is inaudible. Sébastien, I note your courage in not positioning yourself for any candidate. Whom do you support?
Sébastien: Romain, you seem sorry for me not considering politics through the lens of personality cult. It’s probably why I’m for the 6th Republic. But, as you seem very concerned and since we are still in the 5th Republic, allow me to remind you: we will have a candidate on November 23. Patience, it’s on its way at great speed.
It’s true that on the right, with a project called Nicolas, a program called Sarkozy, and a vision for France “All for myself,” the way of thinking is quite different.
Nice-Première: What will be your roles during these two campaigns?
Sébastien: To lead the left to victory!!!
No President of the Republic has been elected without the youth and its dynamism. So, we will have to explain why casting a socialist ballot will provide a real alternative, why Sarkozy, without being schizophrenic, cannot speak of rupture while having been in the government for 5 years, why this election is the most important since 1981.
Romain: Where is the alternative with an archaic project that will contribute to France’s regression? Is the alternative about assistance? Regularizing undocumented immigrants? Egalitarianism? Communitarianism? The 35 hours soon to become 32?
Sébastien: Should I respond to all these points you caricature that would make up, in your eyes, the socialist project? You must be confused. For example, communitarianism is Sarkozy, don’t forget that! With positive discrimination, the inclusion of the most integrist Muslims in the French Council of Muslim Faith, … By the way, when will he announce the creation of the French “Scientologist cult” Council?
And what an imposture on your part! France’s regression is organized by your party since 2002. And once again, your party, whose President is the number 2 in the government, takes us for fools by talking about rupture. The only credible rupture will be the one that will dismiss Sarkozy.
Romain: I’m still a student in a Master of Communication. I will then put all my skills at the service of the 2007 campaigns. Both for Nicolas Sarkozy and for the legislative candidates in my department, I’m eager to make our ideas win, those of freedom, merit, and social justice.
As Deputy Departmental Head of the Young UMP, under the authority of Christian Estrosi and Michèle Tabarot, I will have the pleasure of gathering, with Jérôme Viaud, the young people of our department around the U.M.P. candidate for the presidential election and gathering them around their U.M.P. candidate in each constituency.
The young will have a major role: we will be activists but also idea spreaders, real opinion relays, and producers of new ideas.
Sébastien: It is publicly known that the local UMP is very divided. Will there be a common political project for all these candidates or will you have to make a big compromise between social right and liberal right depending on the constituency you find yourself in?
Romain: The right wants to fight injustices and that, everywhere in France. The militants of our Movement adopted a project based on 10 commitments: 1st commitment: make France an active actor in another globalization instead of a fearful spectator. 2nd commitment: rediscover Europe to revive it. 3rd commitment: a well-functioning, respected, and modern State. 4th commitment: the call for an ecological revolution. 5th commitment: the society of respect and equality of opportunity. 6th commitment: the valorization of work. 7th commitment: make Education a duty of success. 8th commitment: strategically, we want to win the global battle of intelligence. 9th commitment emphasizes two virtues to preserve our social protection, that of justice and responsibility. 10th commitment: make each family a haven of security and freedom. There’s our vision for France!
Nice-Première: Finally, a word on the City of Nice. The works for the Grand Stade are suspended. The scapegoats are multiplying: the prefect, Jacques Peyrat, Jean-François Knecht, the administrative hardships… What about you? Who is responsible for this failure?
Sébastien: I am personally very saddened that OGC Nice is regularly taken hostage by incompetence or political calculations. I grew up in northern Nice, I’ve been going to the stadium since I was little, and I was therefore in favor of rebuilding at the Ray, stand by stand.
But as a good democrat and a true supporter, I accepted the decision of the grand stadium and was eagerly awaiting the start of the works.
When I learned that this project was blocked, anger took over.
In politics, there are no scapegoats but rather responsible parties. And it seems to me that the one with corruption issues in their team who botched the first project, the one who chose a public-private partnership for the second project, is the Mayor of the city, Jacques Peyrat. It’s a bit easy to cry victim every time an issue arises. It’s not the fault of the Prefect or Jean-François Knecht, whom I support, if the municipality, and therefore Mr. Peyrat, are incapable of leading a single project without any condemnation? As for the administrative hardships, it doesn’t seem to me that they are that insurmountable in other cities. Moreover, it’s nevertheless the least one can do, when such an amount of money is at stake, to have a strict control of public spending.
Romain: Regarding the Grand Stade, I prefer to wait for the justice conclusions. As an OGC Nice supporter, I hope to put these issues behind us and build a Grand Stade as soon as possible. The team, the supporters, and the Nicois deserve it!
It’s certainly not my role to designate those responsible or judge anyone! It’s often too easy to criticize those who take initiatives. In France, it’s too often those who do nothing that are most appreciated. “The worst risk is not taking one,” says Nicolas Sarkozy. I desire that the Nicois be represented by elected officials who are integral and prioritize collective interest over their individual gains.
Sébastien: I would like to congratulate you. Even on a question concerning the grand stadium, you manage to talk about Sarkozy! It’s getting awkward. When will he rebuild this stadium at the Ray for and with the gym’s supporters, which he had so stigmatized?
Romain: As a political activist, I hope you are aware of the distribution of powers in our country. I obviously hope that as soon as possible, Nice will be equipped with a stadium worthy of its inhabitants and its team.
