The expressed desire to leave Alsace from the Grand Est region would give ideas to the people of Franche-Comté, according to our colleagues at L’Est Républicain. At the head of the Franche-Comté Movement (MFC), a rather small group, Jean-Philippe Allenbach took the opportunity to reiterate his wish to “unite” Franche-Comté and Burgundy, merged since January 2016 (known as the “BFC” region). The president of this large BFC region, Jérôme Durain (PS), opposes it – he was one of the signatories of a tribune against the proposed law of “defusion” of Alsace and Grand Est – believing that “the French have other priorities.” This position was reiterated on Thursday by Carole Delga, president (PS) of the Occitanie region and the Association of Regions of France, who expressed herself in the pages of Libération after the vote on the Alsace proposed law: “The concern of the French today is about purchasing power, fuel prices, and the closing of schools, not about institutional tinkering.”
In contrast, former minister Ségolène Royal takes a dig at François Hollande, under whose presidency the large regions were created: “The Alsace region has decided to exist again and I am happy for them. I remember the brutality and carelessness with which the region mergers were implemented in 2015.” In the National Assembly, Breton regionalist deputy Paul Molac proclaimed: “The Alsacians have the right to their region because they want it, it’s as simple as that!” Breton autonomists are pleased with this “historic step” for Alsace, which they see as “hope for reunification for Brittany, with Loire-Atlantique and Nantes.”
Recent surveys have shown that the French are mostly in favor of restructuring the large regions. This desire is particularly strong in Savoie, where some supporters of creating a form of “greater Savoie” from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes are making themselves heard, or in Brittany where, on the contrary, the attachment of Loire-Atlantique, with Nantes hosting the Palace of the Dukes of Brittany, is sought by some. And then there is the Basque Country, part of the New Aquitaine region, which could claim a separate status.
In the other components of the Grand Est region, the Alsatian desires are causing some unease. “We will still have to explain to the Alsatians, the inhabitants of Grand Est, and more broadly to the French, how creating a 14th region would simplify the territorial complexity,” questions a Champagne analyst. The president of the National Institute of Public Service (INSP, former ENA, based in Strasbourg), Ferdinand Mélin-Soucramanien, denounces it as “an identity proposal contrary to the Constitution.”
