Member of the Côte-d’Or, Didier Paris is campaign director for the list led by Denis Thuriot. For Dijon Info, the Walker addresses the challenges of the regions seen from the Côte-d’Or and looks back on the municipal elections which have left their mark on the supporters of Emmanuel Macron in Dijon.
Claiming the presidential majority, Denis Thuriot announced his candidacy for the presidency of the regional council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté this Friday, March 5, 2021 in Nevers, his campaign director answers questions fromDijon Info. Didier Paris is an LREM deputy for Côte-d’Or and potentially head of the departmental list for these regional elections.
This last aspect is not completely fixed. “I will seek a balance between all the departments: parity, professional profile, elected / not elected, civil society,” explains Didier Paris. “The campaign is looking good. (…) I don’t feel any difficulty in Côte-d’Or. François Deseille is the Modem representative for the whole region, we are both in phase. I will have someone to act without any difficulty ”.
“The difficulty being to respect parity because, there, it is legal and to find profiles which are sufficiently diversified: young people, older people, professions which are not only senior executives… It is the difficulty usual ”, anticipates the campaign manager.
Find consistency between regional and departmental
“It will be more complicated to ensure that the regional elections are well in line with the departmental elections. The departmental, we will not have candidates everywhere. I wouldn’t want people to be on our regional lists and have candidates against them for the departmental ones, ”he considers.
As part of the preparation of the regional, cross applications with the departmental are not planned at this stage but the team does not forbid itself so far.
“I have discussions with François Rebsamen”
At the national level, the Modem supports Emmanuel Macron and therefore participates in the creation of the list carried by Denis Thuriot which can compete with a future list supported by the Socialist Party. Locally representing the Modem, François Deseille this time supports the socialist François Rebsamen in Dijon.
To solve the equation, each regional level is approached with a specific problem: “we are in our swimming lane, until the first lap, after which we will see how things are done. You can imagine that I have discussions with François Rebsamen as well, he is perfectly aware of what is going on. François Deseille, like the Modem in Côte-d’Or, is also aware of his responsibilities. If they made the choice to be with us here, it is quite clear ”.
Do not reproduce the municipal elections in Dijon
Municipalities in Dijon have left their mark on the Walkers. Several candidates for the upstream application. The choice of La République En Marche to support an independent, in this case Sylvain Comparot. A campaign where the main local elected officials shone by their distance. Not to mention the activists who campaigned for Emmanuel Macron in 2017 to then join François Rebsamen’s list via Modem.
Dijon sympathizers can therefore feel scalded when they see Denis Thuriot’s initiative arrive. Didier Paris intends to prevent the problem from arising again: “first element, time does its work and we discuss. Second element, it is not impossible that Sylvain Comparot is on departmental lists. I understand that Didier Martin – who is responsible for departmental for our movement – is managing this difficulty. For the regions, I want the majority structure that we have created there to be no hitch in it ”.
“You have to really compare things. In Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, the alliance we have just made is significant. It could not be the same in the Paris region, in the Hauts de France or elsewhere. In Paris, the Modem is with Valérie Pécresse as well as a good part of the Walkers “, specifies Didier Paris who adds that,” with Denis Thuriot and François Patriat, we structured things. For the moment, there is no difficulty ”.
“For the Côte-d’Or, the Region is essential”
The stake for the Côte-d’Or during these elections is not negligible with 19 advisers sent to the regional assembly. “The Côte-d’Or is a department in which some areas are very rich but others much less, rural areas, areas in distress; there are also industrial zones. The challenge is to ensure that across the Region, tomorrow, we can be much more present in sectors where we were still relatively little. The stimulus plan is a good example. We need a strong region. The large regions have not yet found their place. When I said ‘large regions, small results’: they did not produce the situation we expected. For the Côte-d’Or, the Region is essential, ”insists Didier Paris.
“We need a powerful capital”
The choice to make Dijon a metropolis while Besançon has the less enviable status of an urban community, which is moreover a regional capital, has caused some resentment in Franche-Comté. The Rassemblement National, in particular, attacks this state of affairs head-on, criticizing what is seen as “centralization” (read our article).
“There is not a territory where there is not a strong urban area”, notes Didier Paris for whom “you need a powerful capital”. And to continue: “before, it was complicated with Burgundy, a region with the Morvan in the center. The merger has refocused Dijon. Dijon and Besançon, which have not always had good relations, are structuring a certain number of things: universities, research, economy… ”
In this context, the list carried by Denis Thuriot claims a “balance of territories”: “there is a desire to use the strengths of each territory and to resolve a large part of the weaknesses”.
Interview by Jean-Christophe Tardivon
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