Municipal reports, dress code and photo framing: a week of political echoes in Gironde

What you shouldn't miss this week in Tire-bouchon, our Saturday political news column

Unsurprisingly, when Nathalie Delattre, Minister of Tourism and candidate in the Bordeaux municipal elections, reviews the outgoing mayor's record, nothing finds favor in her eyes. She and her teams are hammering away, even twisting the facts to say how catastrophic the ecologists' municipal record is. She was organizing another press conference to say this on Thursday at Café Rohan , across from the town hall. And it just so happens that Pierre Hurmic, the mayor, was passing by just before. Recognizing a few journalists, he asks them what they're doing there. "She clearly has an absenteeism problem," smiles Hurmic. "When she wasn't a minister, she never attended city council meetings. Now that she's a minister, she never misses one. But I wonder: when does she take the time to be a minister?"

So it was in the middle of a heatwave that Bordeaux's elected officials met to inaugurate Bordeaux Fête le Vin, which runs until Sunday on the quays . "At a time when climate skepticism and the questioning of the climate emergency are thriving, resigning ourselves to it and giving in to the conveniences of the moment would be a historic error and danger," Pierre Hurmic, the Green mayor of Bordeaux, was quick to point out, referring to the government's recent renunciations (ZFE, ZAN, etc.). It was also a way of telling the Minister of Tourism that there are more "urgent" things than municipal squabbles.

Didier Jeanjean, deputy mayor of Bordeaux in charge of nature in the city and peaceful neighborhoods, was sharply attacked by a resident of central Bordeaux during a recent neighborhood council meeting. The woman, clearly not appeased, criticized the elected official for showing up in Bermuda shorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers. The man in question retorted that as a "grassroots elected official," he cycles many kilometers—another 12 km this Wednesday when the thermometer was at 30 degrees. He also acknowledged that "the effectiveness of his actions will not be judged by a suit and tie." Marc Etcheverry, deputy mayor for security and present that evening, will appreciate this... He who, as usual, showed up impeccably dressed, in a blue shirt, tie, canvas pants, and a jacket put back on as soon as he got off his bike!

The life of a mayor is full of ups and downs. For Emmanuel Sallaberry, the mayor of Talence, the recent sequence will not leave him with an unforgettable memory: two canceled evenings of the ODP festival due to capricious weather , an unfavorable arbitration on the intersecting runway of the Bordeaux-Mérignac airport and, to top it all off, the withdrawal of the Ministry of the Armed Forces from the Bahia project – this public-private merger between the Robert-Picqué military hospital in Villenave-d'Ornon and the Bagatelle hospital in Talence. Other than that, everything is fine.

At the start of his term, Pierre Hurmic rehashed a number of quotes with the regularity of a metronome. Some were borrowed from Jacques Ellul ("To exist is to resist", "A party man is a part of a man"), others of his own creation ("I am not here to overturn the table, but to repair it"). A habit that has passed, but which resurfaced on the occasion of Bordeaux celebrates wine with this formula that he repeats over and over: "I am the mayor of Bordeaux and of Bordeaux!" So far, this has not boosted sales...

"Yes, we're involved in politics, but we're non-partisan. We're not here to criticize mayors, but to highlight what has been done to promote cycling," says the Bordeaux-based association Vélo-cité. It has published a report on the cities in the Métropole's cycling policies . Mayors from both the right and the left have adopted "dishonest," "politically biased," and "methodically inaccurate" criteria based on "missing or erroneous data." Coincidentally, only the cities of Bègles and Bordeaux, led by environmentalists, are recognized by Vélo-cité. At the next metropolitan council meeting, elected officials will vote on the subsidy granted to the association. We can count on them to handle the matter in a "non-partisan" manner.

Among the repeated attacks against Pierre Hurmic, the one concerning the resources allocated to security is already a hit of the campaign. Renaissance MP Thomas Cazenave deplores that "the number of police officers has not increased for four years." Nathalie Delattre's comments speak outright of "a major delay due to dogmatism in matters of security..." But then, during the inauguration of the municipal police's mobile police station , an unexpected tribute was paid to the mayor. It was signed by Grégory Lecru, chief of staff to the prefect: "You're pulling out all the stops, Mr. Mayor, your efforts oblige us. And now you're going faster than us!"

The inauguration of Bordeaux Fête le Vin was therefore an opportunity to bring together three of the upcoming candidates for the Bordeaux municipal elections: Mayor Pierre Hurmic (The Ecologists), Minister Nathalie Delattre (Radical Party), and Member of Parliament Thomas Cazenave (Renaissance). Everything took place in the most exquisite cordiality, but in the accounts posted by each party on their respective social networks, the competitors were carefully removed from the frame. You have to have a keen eye to guess that they were together. Framing, in both photos and videos, is a partial and biased reduction of reality. Which is what politics should not be...

Before the summer break, the outgoing mayors, who see the March municipal elections looming, are all gripped by the balance sheet disease. They flaunt it, defend it, proclaim it, orally and in writing, whenever they get the chance. Why now? Well, because starting September ^1st , they will no longer be able to use their town hall's resources to promote their work. They will be able to continue doing so, but only on the condition that they include it in their campaign accounts. Why deprive themselves!

La Réole (population 4,400) is launching a new charm offensive aimed at the people of Bordeaux: "A change of scenery, not a change of department." The mayor has secured another great PR stunt by hosting the Place publique meetings . It's confirmed: Raphaël Glucksmann will once again attract elected officials and the media in his wake on October 4 and 5. In 2022, Bruno Marty left the Socialist Party, alone against all. He has since joined the national office of Place publique. While he has not yet officially announced his candidacy for the municipal elections, is his ambition already elsewhere?