“Realistic but optimistic”: Laurent Suau's first wishes as president of the departmental council

Laurent Suau, président du conseil départemental de la Lozère. Midi Libre – STEPHANIE BOULOIR

Laurent Suau chaired the departmental council's New Year's ceremony for the first time, at the Marvejols function room, this Thursday, January 9, 2025.

The Marvejols multipurpose hall was packed, this Thursday, January 9, 2025, at the end of the day, for the departmental council's New Year's ceremony. Visitors were welcomed with music by the Étoile Marvejolaise.

The Marvejols multi-purpose hall was packed. Midi Libre – STEPHANIE BOULOIR

Laurent Suau made his entrance on stage, taking the time to take off his jacket, then to look for his glasses before addressing the audience. “I'm feeling a bit of pressure, he said. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you for a first as president of the departmental council.”

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A time for discussion

Laurent Suau wanted this first meeting to be less formal, to leave more time for discussion, he explained. Before him, only Patricia Brémond, mayor of Marvejols and departmental councilor, spoke, promising to be brief: “CWhat matters tonight is the time for sharing and conviviality.” Quoting Victor Hugo: “The best years of a life are those that we have not yet lived“, she highlighted the youth departmental council. And encouraged having “confidence in our ability to believe in better days and to make them possible. Let's dare, build, succeed together.”

Patricia Brémond, Mayor of Marvejols, Vice-President of the Lozère Departmental Council. Midi Libre – STEPHANIE BOULOIR

Laurent Suau, for his part, had to thank all the personalities present in a long list, not sparing a few touches of humor to make the exercise less laborious. He had a thought for two former mayors of Marvejols, Jean Roujon and Marcel Merle. Then he praised the commitment of the new majority of the departmental council, as well as all the community agents.

Key topics

Among the key topics, he cited in particular the economy, agriculture, disability, tourism, security, water, energy, seniors…

He also called on the French “to stop torturing themselves, because in France we are good, and yet we torture ourselves all day long“. Good, as demonstrated for example by the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, of which a video recounted the highlights.

Positive signals

For Lozère, he wanted to retain the positive signals: the budget, which “must be good since it was voted beyond the majority“, state support, fiber (“there are still 1,300 sockets to deploy which are not the easiest”), relations between communities and with the state.

Laurent Suau highlighted the work of the France Services network: “In 2024, 90,000 requests were processed. It's a real local service. They even come to Grandrieu to do shifts, we've never seen that.” He also insisted on the fact that “the emergency room in Mende has never closed”.

In conclusion, the president said: “I'm realistic but I want to remain optimistic. We need to be ambitious!“

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