New Aquitaine was born – francetv info

165, eleven against, seven abstentions, the motion is adopted: the SALW is no longer, New Aquitaine was born. After two hours of debate were not enough to turn off all the controversy, the region has chosen a name in the plenary session on Monday morning. Back several months of controversy

In early January, Alain Rousset is not fooled. “This is a delicate subject” , he entrusts our colleagues in the World . The comments of our users testify, the question of the region’s name change crystallizes the tensions caused by the disappearance of the former regions of Limousin and Poitou-Charentes.

This territory, more size of Belgium or Austria must find a common identity, a name behind which store and forward . The fusion of Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes does not delight the one hand, certainly a minority but significant of the inhabitants of the new large area.

The strategy appeasement Alain Rousset

to enable the inhabitants of the region to express and suggest a name, a website is created in the month of May 2015 . In December of the same year, 5000 users of which 46% Aquitains participate in this unprecedented survey. Not surprisingly, the names formed on the basis of Aquitaine name already hold the rope in front of those Atlantic or Southwest compounds. A working group forms around Anne-Marie Cocula. The historian and former regional councilor is responsible for enforcing the current proposals June 2016.

Another strategy employed by Alain Rousset, Chairman of SALW looking upon election to depoliticize the debate and the move on the economic terrain “I want a name to gather, to be snapped in the ear of every person, to be a brand for our products”

A political class quickly tired

in January, senior policy take the game and in turn announce their preference in the media . Alain Juppe says for example suggesting “the Duchy of Eleanor” , choose “Heart” . “But finally c is a little outdated “, says the mayor of Bordeaux. “Maybe then Great Aquitaine ” . He soon be joined by Jean-Pierre Raffarin: “The Aquitaine is not” new “, it looks like the old, the Poitevine So I prefer.” Big “Aquitaine” .

left, dissenting voices are rare . While Jean-François Macaire had a fondness for New Aquitaine, Nathalie Lanzi, the vice president of the region of Culture admits to having a weakness for “Southwest Atlantic.” more original, Olivier Falorni evokes the name of the Roman province former “Aquitania” “a good name, a meaningful symbol” . “we must plunge our roots far back in history to build a common identity”

tweetos maintain the controversy

if it distracts the political class in the beginning, the debate will take place mainly on social networks . Public meetings organized by Anne-Marie Cocula attract very few citizens, as noted by our reporters in Saint-Savin. Nothing extraordinary, “only the most knowledgeable and the most politicized part in this kind of democratic consultation” , says political scientist Dominique Breillat.
A report Marie- angel Critofari, Antoine Morel and Nicolas Colombeau

It’s also on the internet that the most wacky proposals will emerge . Aquipoilichar, the right corner, the Far West, the Bopoli (Bordeaux, Poitiers, Limoges), the Chocolatine Paradise … But the most famous remains the acronym “APOIL” imagined by SD Pwatoo, the “brand identity pwatevine “.

© SD Pwatoo

But the debate over the greater name will soon be swept by an unprecedented case . By February, the scandal of the financial excesses of the former Poitou-Charentes region reinforces the fear of a downgrade in some Picto-Charentais: the Royal’s supporters to shout “manipulation”, the most pessimistic see it as a sign an “annexation” next … Atmosphere.

the finished pressure to rise in the leaked report of Anne-Marie Cocula in West . A petition was then launched by a rochelais entrepreneur Hugh Lynier and brings 22,000 signatories . Out of it, he does not mince words to describe “methods” Alain Rousset: “M Rousset not listening anything or anyone.”. “Sure of his rights, he will submit to the vote a unique proposition to regional councilors” , he fulminates. “No need to vote, it’s easier” .

The support of an absolute majority of Aquitaine

Excessive , his words do not come less in tune with the almost unanimous reaction of picto-Charentes users who participated in the online consultation and voted for another qu’Aquitaine name.
the full report of Anne-Marie Cocula awarded to Alain Rousset, on 20 June.

Conversely, choosing the “New Aquitaine” is a broad consensus within the political class

. For political scientist Dominique Breillat, fiercely opposed to the merger with Aquitaine, the silence of politicians and women of Poitou-Charentes is eloquent: “Besides the former president of the General Council of Deux-Sèvres, Eric Gautier, nobody opposed this reform, which nevertheless gum identities of the territories. I see this acceptance of bordeaulisation regional policy “.
sign of this mixed membership, word-based names “Aquitaine” brought together an absolute majority only in the departments of the former Aquitaine region .

It may take several generations for New Aquitaine finds its legitimacy among Picto-Charentais and Limousin most attached to their old name.