“Recreate this bond which continues to fade”: how MP Vignal wants to better recognize the profession of social mediator

Patrick Vignal a réalisé de nombreuses auditions avant de peaufiner sa proposition de loi. Midi Libre – Michael Esdourrubailh

Le 29 janvier, les députés examineront la proposition du député héraultais dont le but est de remettre plus d'humain dans les rapports sociaux. Explications. 

On January 29, when deputies vote on the bill aimed at recognizing the professions of social mediation, they will perhaps be unaware of its genesis. "It all started with the story of Martine, this retiree from Rochefort-du-Gard who found herself at the door of her house in 2020, because the tenant who occupied the ground floor Chaussée had taken advantage of his absence to settle upstairs. This lady moved me and I went to negotiate with the squatter. By discussing, we found a solution,” says Patrick Vignal, the deputy for Hérault. "As this was publicized, I’was subsequently contacted about similar matters. I told myself that we needed to legislate.

Faithful to his principle that a law must "start from the field, rather than from a cabinet in Paris", as he did for the one facilitating the change of surname, the The parliamentarian first went on a tour of France to increase the number of hearings with elected officials and social mediation professionals. This gave rise to a report entitled "Putting humanity back into the urban", then to this bill which, rare in this legislature, was co-signed by numerous deputies from all sides, up to the very faithful Mélenchonists Sophia Chikirou and Benoît Delogu. "But there is only one LR", notes Patrick Vignal with a hint of regret.

The positive effects of third party intervention

According to him, if this proposed law stands out as transpartisan, it is because it can “recreate this link which continues to fade with social networks, the withdrawal, drugs… ", he lists. During his field visits, he was able to observe the "positive" effects of the intervention of a third party: "In Marignane and Vitrolles, the lessor social 13 Habitat has considerably reduced incivility by placing mediators in HLMs. In middle and high schools where the same system has been put in place, cases of harassment are quickly identified and resolved. We must infuse society to create compromise.

When President Macron brought together 200 mayors at the Élysée, that of Bordeaux, the ecologist Pierre Hurmic, made his contribution. "We have never experienced such anger in working-class neighborhoods. The initial observation is always the same: the dehumanization of social relations gives rise to their brutalization. It is time to professionalize this essential sector of social mediators, to stop its dependence on subsidized contracts which make jobs precarious and penalize partnership dynamics.

Recognition, remuneration, training…

This is precisely the objective of the proposed law: to give real status to the profession which has around 12,000 mediators and to better remunerate them “through a financial commitment from the State’ rsquo;one euro for each euro spent by a community or any other organization. The MP is still considering bridges with the public service to offer career opportunities. "We also have to move away from the image of the big brother in the neighborhood and this requires real training. I propose the creation of four schools in Dijon, Marseille, Montpellier and Lille,” continues Patrick Vignal, who hopes for the rapid recruitment of 1,100 mediators in schools “to respond to the problem of harassment.”

His phone rings, he pauses. At the end of the phone, by chance, the former squatter from Rochefort-du-Gard who is taking advantage of the new year to thank the MP. Totally idle three years ago, he now has a job and reconnected with his family. "Dialogue allows a lot", illustrates Patrick Vignal with a smile who sees, with this bill, a tool of "civic rearmament" that President Macron has called for.

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