CÔTE-D’OR: François Sauvadet’s wishes for 2021

Faced with the various crises, “national cohesion is the only possible solution” declared the president of the departmental council of Côte-d’Or. “I have confidence in science” adds François Sauvadet about the Covid-19 epidemic.

Press release from the Côte-d’Or departmental council of December 31, 2020:

Greetings from the President of the Côte-d’Or Departmental Council

The year 2020 will have marked history with an unprecedented health situation that we have known since last spring. The COVID-19 crisis has led our societies to make unprecedented efforts, which continue to this day.

This year 2020 will also have been crossed by terrorist violence, which again descended on our territory, hitting innocent people again and again. It is with great emotion that we will keep in memory the memory of Professor Samuel Paty, murdered for teaching freedom of expression, as well as the faithful of Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice, killed for having practiced their religion.

Fate grieved our country until the last days of December. Three gendarmes died on a mission in Puy-de-Dôme, when they came to help a woman victim of violence by her husband. A few days later, three French soldiers were killed in Mali, as part of Operation Barkhane, aimed at fighting Islamist terrorism.

Our democracy is strong.

Faced with crises, attacks, wars, national cohesion is the only possible solution. Faced with the health crisis which is disrupting our lifestyles, solidarity is the most credible response. In this sense, 2020 will have seen remarkable manifestations of mutual aid. I would like to salute the Côte-d’Oriennes and the Côte-d’Oriens who, through their actions and their respect for health protection rules, have been able to limit the effects of the pandemic in our department.

The Departmental Council of Côte-d’Or responded and assumed its responsibilities in 2020, as it will do in 2021, by extending its plan of exceptional measures to support the most vulnerable, to face the crisis.

Together, we will overcome the challenges of 2021: you can count on the Department and its agents, mobilized at all times, to listen to you, accompany you and support you.

I trust the science. I have confidence in technical progress when it is put at the service of the common good and territorial balance. 2021 brings renewed hope, with the arrival of the vaccine and it is of course a source of pride that the Côte-d’Or is chosen to be at the forefront of the national vaccination campaign.

I say and I confirm that the Department of Côte-d’Or will be ready to respond to the partnerships engaged for the development of the territories, in particular through the State-Region Plan Contract and the Territorial Contracts for Relaunch and Ecological Transition.

The territories are facing profound changes: demographic, climatic, digital, family. The Department will live up to its responsibilities to support you towards the new opportunities created by these societal changes. We will therefore be very attentive to the means that will be given to us to accomplish this essential mission.

“Hope is not a formula, but a practice” said Nicole Notat, a figure of reformist unionism. For this year 2021, I wish you to hold on and keep hope. The return to normal life is not yet for today, but we will be ready, tomorrow, to relive the moments of conviviality, of rejoicing, of escape, which we love so much and which constitute a large part of the art of living in Côte-d’Or.

I wish you all a Happy New Year 2021.

Francois SAUVADET
Former minister
President of the Côte-d’Or Department

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