In recent months, you have made no secret of your intention to launch into the battle for the regions. Are you officially a candidate today?
Yes, I am a candidate for regional. I will very officially announce this candidacy in Roscoff (29) on January 22. I will present the name of the list and the project.
Why would you want to introduce yourself?
For me, Brittany is first and foremost about fraternity. I have seen a lot of people for two years. Then comes a kind of evidence: the Celib which, in the 1950s, had allowed people to roll up their sleeves by leaving aside their labels to get Brittany out of its agricultural misery. Couldn’t we rediscover this spirit and agree on challenges for Brittany, particularly around climate change?
Because you administered the commune of Langouët (35), will you be able to manage a region?
I have regional experience. I chaired the public land establishment in Brittany. I was a regional adviser in charge of urban ecology. I have knowledge of administration, files.
Our list will not end up behind a political label one day or another.
Who are you getting started with? Can we have names?
Not yet. We have people who have a strong political sensitivity; people whose background is rather humanist, democratic, Christian, in this centrist movement; and then people who will put their experience and enthusiasm at the service of meeting the challenges. And they have the guarantee that our list will not end up one day or another behind a political label and that we are not creating a new party.
Where are you from?
I was born in Saint-Pol-de-Léon (29). My grandfather died in 1929 in a shipwreck. His name was Jean-François Cueff and he has his name in the Johnnies Museum, in Roscoff. My father comes from a large, very poor family in Plouénan (29). He was the first in the family to graduate. He joined the French Navy and became a nurse. I have a connection with this territory in which my grandparents are buried.
Agricultural and environmental issues will animate this campaign. How to reconcile maintaining a strong agriculture and respect for the environment?
You have three political fields which are at stake and which I do not subscribe to. The first is to say: “Between peasant agriculture or agrifood, choose your comrade camp”. In this “or” camp, there are also those who say “employment or ecology”. It is a binary, frontal relationship that will create tensions. Finally, there is the “at the same time”: we have no political course and we try to agree with everyone.
I do not claim my list as ecological
What is the fourth way, then yours?
It is the “and”. To do this, a political framework must be established. We play politics without opposing.
Not easy when you see the divisions fracturing Breton society …
First, we must not feed the fractures. To get people to work together, you need a framework, otherwise you do something “at the same time”.
But some do not even want to discuss …
When the project I am defending has been validated by the ballot box, there will be a different atmosphere.
This is what Emmanuel Macron also thought at the national level in 2017.
What I am telling you on the theoretical level will be very strongly embodied. It can make a dynamic movement that can unite.
Charlotte Marchandise and Isabelle Melscoët, with whom you co-signed a forum in July 2020, call on you to join forces with EELV and LFI. The rebels say they are ready for this alliance. And you ? This is the spirit of Celib.
Celib had the strength to leave the labels at home. I have met all the political leaders of all stripes, including recently Cap 21. But each time, they want to put their name, their people. It is therefore not possible.
We are then moving towards two ecological lists. Charlotte Marchandise predicts that none will reach 10%.
I am not claiming my list as environmentally friendly. I think ecology belongs to Bretons and Bretons. It does not belong to a political label. It is ineffective.
However, we can imagine your ideas close to those of EELV.
On macro analyzes, I share. But their way of doing it, no. Their methodology, their questioning of people, these are mechanisms that reject ecology. And then there is what Pierre Bourdieu calls symbolic violence. See the violence that it can have for Bretons to hear: “Ecology or Tour de France, choose your side”. When you are elected by people, you represent them. And representing people is not thinking for them.
Thierry Burlot calls me every fortnight, so I think he’s looking for a landing spot
What conclusions do you draw from the policy of Loïg Chesnais-Girard? Is it this “at the same time” that you describe that disappoints you the most?
Yes. I confirmed this point of view by going to see business leaders. They are unable to say what the course of regional policy is. This is a problem because if there is no course, there is no policy.
Thierry Burlot, vice-president of the regional council in charge of the environment, would be ready to be a candidate against Loïg Chesnais-Girard. What inspires you?
Thierry Burlot calls me every fortnight, so I think he’s looking for a landing spot because things don’t seem to be going very well with Loïg Chesnais-Girard. He has a good technocratic competence in matters of ecology but he is politically marked. He comes from the Socialist Party. Now, the mistake of a list like ours would be to close the doors.
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