The mayor of Balma and vice-president of Toulouse Métropole, Vincent Terrail-Novès, was in Bagnols this Friday after announcing his candidacy for the regional elections on Monday.
From the Right, the son of the former Toulouse Stadium coach and the French rugby XV, presents himself as a “Humanist” and leaves without a party, but with the very probable support of the presidential majority. It advances its programmatic axes and announces that it wants to put an end to “Dogmatic postures”. Interview.
Objectif Gard: You are from Toulouse, what do you know about this part of Occitanie which is the former Languedoc-Roussillon? And more particularly from the Gard, where you are not necessarily known, at least for the moment?
Vincent Terrail-Novès: It’s a very large region, bigger than a country like Ireland, so it’s hard to have ties all over the region when you’re 42, when you’re in the workforce, like that. is my case. What I know is rather vacation spots, passages that I had because my grandfather was a magistrate in Nîmes. I have a rather sentimental attachment to the Gard department, and afterwards to the whole region more vacation memories.
You entered politics thanks to Jacques Chirac, and you were a member of the UMP, which you left in 2017. Why did you leave it?
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I have always believed in the values of work, of merit, these are values that were instilled in me by my parents. The Chiraquian side was the human side of Chirac, in particular 1995 with the social divide, the social aspects, this very human part of Chirac which aroused in me the desire to get involved. Afterwards, I identify myself more as a personality of the Right Center, that is to say really carried in these humanist values, which moreover carry me in my professional activity, since I am a physiotherapist, and that I wanted to intervene with dependent elderly people. This human dimension has always guided me in my life until now.
Do you consider the Republicans too right-wing a party for you now?
In 2017, the President of the Republic was elected against Marine Le Pen, and I wanted my country to succeed. So I felt that we should give the President of the Republic a chance, and I was a little tired of these dogmatic postures taken constantly: when measures come from home we applaud them, when they come from home. opponent they are criticized. I find that today all these dogmatic postures are outdated. This is the reason why I wanted to quit the party. What interests me is local anchoring, I have always fought for the territory, in my city or in the Region since 2010. For this territorial anchoring, I wanted to no longer be in these divisive practices , these dogmatic postures that have polluted political life for decades.
You present yourself without a party behind you, but you still have the support of the Republic on the march.
I am a free person, independent, with a strong passion for the territory, and I am a mayor. I think that the answer to this crisis can come from the territories. The presidential majority should give me its support, but somewhere it is a logical step insofar as this presidential majority is built on a desire to go beyond divisions. It is this method that I apply at the regional level, to want to bring together men and women of working life, living forces, from a reasoned Left to a moderate Right. And so naturally that’s what’s in the DNA of the presidential majority, so it’s no surprise that I get their support, but I would accept the support of anyone who wants to build something for this region beyond dogmatic postures.
What are the main axes that you will defend in your program?
The Region has many competences which are all very important. Nevertheless, I think that tomorrow, the main issues that we will have to take up and the main challenges at the end of the health crisis is the economic, social and environmental crisis. The priorities that I would set, and our project is being developed in a participatory way, will of course be the economy, employment, training and guidance for young people, because we must be the relay of revival of the State to support the economy in these territories.
“We need to have a real captain”
Is the Region the right level to act?
Yes I think, between very important skills and close to the territory and on the other hand we are also there to be a locomotive. The Region must assume this role. A locomotive with a train, thirteen wagons, the departments, axles which are the communities of communes, the metropolises, and the Region must be the engine. However, today the Region is not a driving force. I think this is the right level to boost our territory, to set a course, a strategy that is lacking today.
What is your assessment of Carole Delga’s term at the head of this Region?
It’s a mixed record, we can’t say that nothing has been done, that would be caricature. But the main criticism I make is the confinement and dogmatism of Carole Delga, who announced that she wanted to be a candidate so that the Region remains on the left, which is still very restrictive, we are a candidate to serve the interests of the territory. And then the fact that she is a little hostage of parties, in particular Europe ecology the Greens, they are against everything: against nuclear power, the LGV, the plane, the car, meat, trees, hunting, fishing … The second criticism is the fact of not having set a course for our Region. When I ask the inhabitants what is the course that Carole Delga has set today, they do not know how to answer. They have the impression that things are being done because there is a lot of communication and opportunity policies being carried out, but these actions are not put into perspective towards a course. We need to have a real captain, who drives a real policy to get this region off the ground.
However, Carole Delga is given the winner in the polls …
She is an outgoing, but I am very careful and very attentive to the polls. I tell voters that it is not the media or the polls that make the election, but that it is they who do it. We must mobilize, the future will tell us what it really is, but I am going to win and because I am not resigned, so the polls I put them largely aside. I am in the field, I declared my candidacy on Monday in Toulouse, and today I wanted to be at the gateway to our Region to send a very strong message to the territory and to all the inhabitants of Occitanie.
You could see that here we are very far from Toulouse.
Yes it is correct you are far from Toulouse, but we still have a similar culture, we are not that far apart on many points. There are very important industries here, especially nuclear, there are forces in this territory. What I want to highlight are not the differences between the territories, but the forces to go in the same direction, and in this sense we are not very far apart.
You talk about mobilizing voters, in the current context with the health crisis, should we vote in June?
I believe that the strategy operated by the State will bear fruit. I am optimistic for the future, especially for the month of June. I think that we are moving towards better days and that it is necessary, if the situation allows it and there is no risk, to keep this election in June.
Interview by Thierry Allard
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