Vincent Bouget: “There is a desire on the left for everyone to go united for the Nîmes municipal elections”

Vincent Bouget : “Il y a un changement d'ère” Midi Libre – Nathan Rousseau

Alors qu'il s'apprête à quitter la direction départementale du PC gardois, Vincent Bouget se projette sur la vie politique nîmosie… à 18 mois des municipales.

You are resigning this Friday from your position as federal secretary of the Gard communist party. You feel that you have served your time?

I did 10 years! That's what Martine Gayraud told me when I took over from her. It went by quickly, but it's good to renew. And the new challenges facing the party – deployment across the territory, the battle of ideas on work or the confrontation with the extreme right – require availability. I'm not retiring, I'm going to concentrate on my mandates and my job that I continue to do. The idea is to gain efficiency and not remain in the hum of habit (1).

This time saving can also allow you to devote yourself, for example, to the 2026 municipal elections. Are you a candidate for mayor??

The applications arrive later, a few months before the election. Today, we are not in an election campaign. We are in a change of era. We must take the time to allow the inhabitants of this city to measure it and to project themselves into it collectively. I told my partners on the left and those who work with us that I take responsibility for leading this work.

Sports Hall, Palais des congrès… The «major projects» of Jean-Paul Fournier's last term are now being completed for the most part. What is your view on this?

The Sports Hall, given the lack of sports infrastructure in the city, can only do good! It will be a necessary tool, even if it first replaces what existed at Costières. But we still lack infrastructure, gymnasiums, sports fields, large play areas. As for the Palais des congrès, I still have doubts about the project, its location and its economic viability. We are now at nearly 65 million euros of investment announced, which could have met other needs… More generally, what conception of the city do we have? ? The orientation towards all tourism does not seem to me to be very relevant and then above all, we have the feeling that the city is made according to the outside view, not that of the inhabitants. There is a form of dispossession, the feeling of not being listened to, considered.

What do you think about, urbanization ?

The city centre has been well renovated, when you walk around you get the impression that Nîmes is a very rich city whereas in other areas, there is more the feeling of being relegated. There is a need to repair a gap between the aspirations of the inhabitants and the policy implemented. There are environmental and economic challenges that will not only come through tourism. Currently, it lacks meaning, we do things piecemeal. We privatise, we delegate everything, we sell, we deprive ourselves of means of public action. The latest example is the exhibition centre. We no longer have the means to maintain it, we sell it! The stadium, we sell! Public services, we delegate them to the private sector! There is a lack of confidence in the residents and in the city's agents.

Nîmes Olympique: “We need a recovery”

You were talking about the stadium, you continue to go to the Antonins?

I haven't been there since the end of last year when we went to support the Crocos so that they don't go any lower. It's extremely sad.

You advocate the renovation of the Costières stadium?

Contrary to what Julien Plantier (first deputy mayor, Editor's note) may say, we have always criticized the choice of selling the stadium and the model proposed by the president of Nîmes Olympique (Rani Assaf, Editor's note). At the time, the City responded quite sharply when we alerted them to these projects. It has since changed its mind. Today, the club needs to be taken over by a shareholder, someone who has a project. There is a desire on the part of the supporters to invest in the future of the club. This is a real asset! They launched a project with participation from socios. I know that there are potential buyers, we must push for the future to be like this. But for now, the majority has put us in a situation of dependence on Rani Assaf by signing a sales agreement with him and we are waiting for Mr. Assaf to appeal against the refusal of the building permit.

Is this the big fiasco of the Fournier mandate??

In any case, it is very symbolic of the lack of consideration for the City's heritage and an ideological choice of privatization. We should have been more pragmatic.

We saw you, at the city council, very upset about not seeing your wish on the name change of the Place de l’Abbé-Pierre being put to the vote…

In the municipal council, there is no constructive debate. We play our role as opposition seriously, we study the files, we make proposals, it is frustrating to be taken like that in a haughty manner. It is an old way of doing politics, with as in any adventure that ends, individual ambitions and internal dysfunctions that come to alter governance.

On the future name of the square, you had proposed a name that echoes Emmaüs (Odile Assmann, founder of the Open Table). Will he be retained?

I don't know, no one has told me anything. He is a symbol and a female personality, someone who has worked for the city. And we need to recognize the values ​​of solidarity.

A new bill aims to ban bullfighting for those under 16. You are opposed to it?

Yes, I published a column on this subject and I spoke with the president of the communist group in the Senate to see how I can intervene. For the vast majority of parliamentarians, bullfighting is a very exotic subject…

Drug trafficking: “Tracking down networks”

This summer, in Pissevin, the new police station was set on fire. The NPNRU is underway. Are we going in the right direction??

If we had the magic wand and the miracle solution, we would know about it. The NPNRU (urban renewal plan) can be a good thing. There are spaces left abandoned. The difficulty is that too often we do not consider the people who live in these neighborhoods enough. At the same time, there are public services that are leaving. Often only the school remains, while there are many residents, employees, entrepreneurs who live in the neighborhood and who would like to have the same services as everyone else. We dragged our feet a bit. The city and the Agglo could have been more proactive in monitoring the NPNRU. There, in the new plan, there will be businesses, to the north and to the south. But today, it is in Valdegour that we have the impression of being a little isolated. And then there is a real question with drug trafficking. That is why we launched the appeal of Nîmes.

For what purpose ?

We need a lot more resources. We have always been in favor of a fully-fledged police station in Pissevin. We need more public order. But we also need a lot of resources to track down mafia networks, and that goes well beyond the city. And the issue of security is a real issue. We cannot accept living in a city where we fear that children, when they go out, will be attacked by organized gangs that sow terror.

Franck Proust, who will probably run for mayor, was acquitted in the Senim case. He thanked you for not attacking him on this subject…

We have always considered that we were neither investigators nor justice. Our role is political debate, not judicial debate. We do not expect thanks, it is a form of political ethics for us. Afterwards, we must also keep a little humility, restraint, modesty, even if we have suffered personally. Many people suffer on this Earth. We must remain humble so that our own person does not take precedence over our function.

On the left, the PS is jostling to assert its place. Are you sure you will leave united in the next municipal elections?

I don't remember any municipal elections where, 18 months before the elections, there is such a desire to leave united. We are aware of working together for several years, we respect each other and if we want to implement a new policy, there is no other choice. That everyone wants to exist, to count, that's normal. But we will find ways to leave together.

(1) The PC departmental congress is meeting this evening to designate the new secretary(s).

 

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