Head in his shoulders, Christian Troadec crosses the wedding hall with a determined step. This 56-year-old man with a rounded physique may well be in his stronghold – the town hall of Carhaix (Finistère) – he seems worried and in a hurry. This Monday, March 7, he has just piloted the meeting of the municipal council without having to explain what his 7,155 citizens call the “Troadec business” : an alcoholic evening between elected officials and civil servants at the expense of the community, controversial management, criticism from neighboring mayors… Not to mention a trial, Thursday, March 24, in Brest, for “public insults”. This is a lot, even for a figure of Breton regionalism, vice-president of the regional council in charge of the languages of Brittany and possible candidate in the next legislative elections against Richard Ferrand, outgoing deputy and president of the National Assembly.
Those “controversies” and these “lynching attempts” as he calls them, would be, in his eyes, only « machinations » intended to destabilize him, the strong man of Poher, this rural territory in the heart of the Breton peninsula where he has reigned since 2001 under the label “various left”. On closer examination, however, they are less a plot than a very particular way of exercising one’s mandate. So, that same Monday in March, when The world approaches him to finally get an answer to the many requests for meetings, the mayor seems very embarrassed and promises an exchange – which will never come – before disappearing through the first door.
Sentenced for “public insults”
Christian Troadec has changed a lot since our last meeting, in February 2021. At the time, it was a question of discussing the economic impact of the Vieilles Charrues festival (270,000 admissions in 2019) on the Carhaisian country. That day, this man with easy familiarity had launched into a sharp criticism of the attitude judged « mercantile » of the festival management, guilty, according to him, of complying with the health constraints imposed by the Ministry of Culture. He then praised his municipal decrees allowing cafes to reopen their terraces despite the Covid. An initiative quickly challenged by the prefecture. He had also taken pleasure in speculating on the revival of the “red caps”, this movement protesting the ecotax of which he had been spokesperson, in 2013.
This interview goes back a year. An eternity. The chosen one, usually so talkative, is now trying to weigh every word as Thursday March 24 approaches, the day of his summons to the Brest criminal court for having insulted a volunteer from the Vieilles Charrues. Sentenced to a fine of 2,500 euros by penal order in February – a simplified procedure without a hearing – Mr. Troadec contested this judgment and rejects the accusations of the complainant, Eric M.
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