Jean-François Bures, ex-finalist in the municipal elections in Rouen: “I saw the best and the worst of politics”
Through Fabien Massin
Published on
retirement from political life, Jean-Francois Bures has been since the summer of 2021, after his defeat on the wire in the departmental elections. A natural withdrawal, according to him, after two electoral defeats, municipal in Rouen (Seine-Maritime) and departmental in Seine-Maritime, and lack of sufficient enthusiasm to continue the political commitment. Commercial marketing director in the private sector, Jean-François Bures is also now… a writer. Encounter.
It’s been more than a year and a half since you left politics, just after your defeat in the departmental elections. Why this decision at the time?
My driving force has always been enthusiasm, around municipal and departmental issues. With the Department, I discovered a magnificent community, which I did not know before 2015. I had the chance to have responsibilities, to do extremely concrete things. I will always have great memories of this engagement. The voters did not choose not to renew us, Marine Caron and I, despite our involvement, each in our field, for 6 years. But the voters are the judges alone, so it was time to take a step back. It seemed obvious to me. Obviously it was a frustration, we were in the lead in the first round and in the end, we missed more than 100 votes. Of course we know that in politics we are never elected on a balance sheet, and we knew that the circumstances had changed compared to 2015, with the arrival of new inhabitants, which modified the sociology of the canton (Rouen 1).
The municipal commitment is a little different, it was 7 years of opposition, and when you like to do things, necessarily, it does not bring the same fuel, it kills enthusiasm. And I want to emphasize that I do not live from politics. It’s a fundamental choice, I’ve always kept absolute freedom. I have always worked in the private sector, I have created wealth, like most French people.
Regarding the municipal elections, a year ago, were you surprised by the final victory of Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol?
In fact everyone was convinced that the Greens would be in the lead in the first round. Traditionally in Rouen there is no poll, or one at the last minute. There were 15, and all the national press came. I wonder if this could not have influenced the control. The fact that the Greens are systematically in front, I think that could have played a role with a certain centrist electorate. Faced with the shambles on the right and in a post Lubrizol context, there may have been fear that the Greens would take power in Rouen. Alongside this there was the posture of Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, who was considered a reasonable left, of governance, before a move to the left to create a stable and lasting majority at the town hall.
A helm to the left, that is to say?
We saw it take shape fairly quickly, the socialist majority not being overwhelming, we had to leave a lot of room for the Greens and the partners of the PS. The most emblematic subject is the story of the statue of Napoleon. We are on something symbolic – and symbols are important – which allows us to give gauges to the left, given the precarious balance of the majority. Earlier, already, pledges had been given, on the eastern bypass, with the volte-face of all the elected officials of the socialist party. Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol changed his mind personally and everyone followed suit. If the electoral result is happy for the PS, the campaign was not. With all these polls, the PS and its candidate were not at ease, it was a question of not being overtaken on its left. I think above all that we are moving away from the concerns of the Rouennais. Beyond communication, symbols, conferences, symposiums, where are the projects for Rouen? Where is the conductive line? What are we doing regarding the attractiveness and influence of the city? We see nothing emerging, no projects to propose positioning. In fact, it’s all pretty dull.
And what is your view of the municipal opposition?
I carried the group for a year before leaving them, I am very respectful of what they do. It’s a lot of work, almost invisible, and not relayed to the height of the hours that it can represent. We are not aware of the files, or very little, you really have to like democracy, when you are in the opposition… It is a thankless job, nevertheless essential to this democracy.
Who will emerge for the next election?
So, I don’t know at all. I would like the example of the last campaign, ransacked on the right, to reflect on those who wanted to get involved and proclaim themselves the animator of anything. You have to know the territory. I hope that next time a list will be freed up that will work and rise to the front in due time, intelligently, without making political moves. I hope that at least there will be this memory.
Would you be interested in being part of it?
This is a question that I do not ask myself at all. You should never say never, in life, and especially in politics, so as not to cover yourself with ridicule. My departure is still very recent, so I don’t project myself at all. I saw the best of politics, by acting concretely in the Department, with a magnificent team, led by Pascal Martin then Bertrand Bellanger. I have also seen the worst of politics. That is to say banana peels and dirty tricks. There for once I did not see the best of humanity. And we may have thick leather, with the years, well it touches. My line has always been sincerity and a form of righteousness. It is true that some come to politics for a matter of recognition. It’s not my engine. You know, when you fight in your own political family, for months, and you are challenged… I’m not reinforced concrete. I’ve had enough of all this, because it’s not productive. All these feelings of jealousy, of envy, some accept it and take pleasure in it. Not me.
Jean-François Bureswriter
Jean-François Bures’ first novel, “I will read the slowdown in your eyes”, was published by L’Harmattan (Paris) in 2021. “It is the story of a woman, in 1942, who made the choice to leave to work in Germany, says the writer. She does it because she is absolutely alone and she has to feed her child. It is a tragic choice, an unknown part of the story — they will be 350,000 to have known the same fate – which I discovered while digging and which fascinated me.” At first, Jean-François Bures carried out a whole investigation and research work, as far as Germany, to reconstruct as much as possible the true course of this woman. The time for writing came during the first confinement. “When everything stopped, I took the opportunity of this parenthesis to dispense with it. I had been writing for a long time, but now I had material that could become a novel, a form that I like. enormously and which has nourished me since I was a teenager. There were a lot of gray areas in this woman’s journey, which is why the novel lent itself very well to it. I wondered a lot about her destiny , I imagined all the possible scenarios, it was really intrusive. “For the ex-politician, this adventure came at the right time. “It’s a magnificent chance of life, which elevates and purifies, when you leave the arena: the fact of telling yourself that this work, a real in-depth work, depends only on yourself.”
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