No one knows yet if it will succeed or if it will fizzle out. But the surprise announcement of the planned merger between Saint-Denis and Pierrefitte soon set the two cities ablaze. While a wish activating the launch of the process must be voted on during two extraordinary councils – organized simultaneously on April 20 by the two mayors (PS), Mathieu Hanotin and Michel Fourcade – two events are announced in parallel.
At the head of the mobilization, elected officials and left-wing activists, the wind is against the creation of this new municipality which would flirt with the 150,000 inhabitants. And who was not in the program of the two mayors.
“A purely electoral operation”
On the initiative, in particular, of the leader of La France Insoumise in Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, a collective called Stop fusion Pierrefitte – Saint-Denis was launched as well as a petition already bringing together more than 900 signatories. “It is an operation which was discussed in the authorities of the PS and which is purely electoral”, rejects the ex-LFI candidate for the municipal elections, who describes a mayor of Saint-Denis “frightened, alone in his corridor. And who, after having assumed a right-wing logic, was caught up and wonders how to stay at the head of this city, he continues. With this project, he wants to bring back to him a whole electorate of Pierrefitte ”.
Opponent (PCF) in the neighboring town, Farid Aïd also denounces the method and demands a referendum: “No merger decision has been taken in recent years without discussion. Here, it was decided by two, at the corner of a table. Michel Fourcade cannot criticize the pension reform as Olivier Faure did (the first secretary of the PS) by explaining that there was no debate, and make a 49.3 here on this subject! »
Like many opponents, Bally Bagayoko says he does not believe in the arguments of the two elected officials, who have indicated in our columns that they want to “go faster” together, to provide better service to the inhabitants, and in particular to get Pierrefitte out of its budget blockages. “It is to believe that Michel Fourcade has just discovered the difficulties of local communities, ironically the activist LFI. He never mobilized on the subject, we never heard him make the slightest statement or sue the state…”
Fourcade would remain “delegate mayor”
In Pierrefitte, voices denounce the decision of a mayor who rather wanted to settle his succession: in 2019, Michel Fourcade announced that this third term would be the last. A time tipped to be at the top of the PS list for the senatorial elections in September – the place will ultimately be decided between the ex-mayor of the Lilacs Daniel Guiraud and Adel Ziane, deputy mayor in Saint-Ouen – he announced in a letter to the inhabitants that he would remain delegate mayor of Pierrefitte. “When I made this application, this merger project did not exist, he recalled on Wednesday by telephone. And I don’t like running two hares at once. »
Regarding the accusations of maneuver, he speaks of “nonsense”. “If I defend this merger, it is because I believe that it is useful for the inhabitants, he justifies. Regarding my succession, there is no problem: I have quality elected officials, several are able to succeed me and they will do so as deputy mayor. »
The wrath of MP Stéphane Peu
According to our information, the deputy (PCF) of the two cities, Stéphane Peu, had very little taste for the unilateral approach of the two socialist mayors. She would even have awakened in him the desire to run for municipal elections in Saint-Denis. Contacted, the parliamentarian neither confirmed nor denied the information.
He also believes that “there is no financial or institutional or even geographical justification, because certain districts of Pierrefitte live more with Montmorency, Sarcelles (Val d’Oise), Epinay or Stains. So everyone sees in this approach only a political operation. »
“The Disappearance of a City”
For what calculation? “I don’t know the underside, but what is certain is that we have a mayor who has a succession problem and another, a re-election problem, he replies. These are political questions that dominate and we cannot put the disappearance of a city in the balance. Because it is a merger-absorption, we must not tell stories. »
“Michel Fourcade knows very well that in 2026, we had a chance of reaching responsibilities”, wants to believe for his part Farid Aïd. In 2020, the outgoing mayor was re-elected in the first round with 51.87% of the vote, against 36.88% for the PCF candidate, who considers that the city councilor also “stabbed a knife in the back” of those who could hope to succeed him in his majority. “Doing this, he said to them: I cannot leave you my estate because you would risk being beaten…”
“At the end, voters will have a choice”
Also contacted by telephone, Mathieu Hanotin assures that he feels “a dichotomy between the avalanche of political reactions and the reality of the feelings of the inhabitants. I’m not saying that everyone finds it great, but when you walk around Saint-Denis, there are positive questions, citizens who want to know what it can be used for. We are going to do this work of explanation”.
Regarding the accusations of maneuver, the city councilor recalls that “in the end, the voters will have a choice”. And returns the charge: “I think, on the contrary, that it is those who have patiently built their little electoral shop who may see their dream fly away. I am already mayor of Saint-Denis and president of (the territorial public establishment) Common Plain. And yes, I want to increase the influence of the new municipality so that it has more weight in political decisions in Île-de-France. »
