The prefect of the Grand Est Area Jean-Luc Marx will depart on February 2, 2020.
At midnight on February 2, he’ll depart his submit as prefect of the Grand Est … to enter the countryside. At 66, Jean-Luc Marx mentioned sure to the proposal of the mayor of Cahors (Lot) to combine his checklist into the municipal elections. Seduced by the concept of reaching and being helpful, the Mosellan subsequently left senior administration. Sport, household, the vegetable backyard will even occupy his life. Earlier than leaving, he tells of his Nice East, his mission, his imaginative and prescient of life.
Why are you retiring?
“I’ve been in a position to train my retirement rights for 3 and a half years, however I’ve at all times felt in full possession of my means. I nonetheless really feel the identical pleasure in exercising this operate, these missions. In July 1970, I acquired my first wage as a salaried highschool pupil. I used to be 15 years previous. I joined the general public service in 1975, so I stayed there for 45 years.
The mayor of Cahors, the place I’ve my present base with my partner, provided to accompany him on his checklist for the municipal elections. As I used to be prefect of Lot between 2009 and 2011, I planted some seeds there. I accepted the proposal since you ought to know that I’m ineligible within the Grand Est. I might have continued as prefect till March 1, the official date of my retirement, however I choose to cease earlier than the beginning of the marketing campaign. I discover it extra first rate and trustworthy. I’m subsequently prefect of the Grand Est till February 2 at midnight. Josiane Chevalier will then take over from me. "
You might have stayed just a few extra years prefect of the Grand Est…
"We might stay a prefect all of our life. I might have let myself be carried to the age restrict. This mission by no means ends. The metropolitan boulevard of Strasbourg is nearly executed. On the A31 bis, I think about that I’ve taken just a few steps to the file, we’re heading in the direction of the choice of public utility subsequent yr … if I needed to wait till the opening of the positioning, it could lead me to an unattainable age. The Franco-German cooperation committee which shall be put in in just a few days in Hambach can be one of many substantive topics on which I’ve contributed. He’ll work on on a regular basis issues, for instance the creation of a working race between France and Germany, which immediately is unattainable for the reason that two international locations don’t apply the identical guidelines. Crit’air stickers which show air pollution ranges additionally work in a different way. Two concepts that present the each day significance of such a committee. "
So politics?
"I'm not a political fanatic, it doesn't make me vibrate. Nevertheless, I like the concept of directing. Once I was prefect of Cahors, the mayor and I went to the Sports activities Ministry to current a mission to construct a swimming pool. The outgoing socialist mayor is in search of a second time period. I’m in what known as civil society, he provides me the submit of first assistant. I will even be very delicate to environmental considerations. One of many figures who populate my private pantheon is Jean-Marie Pelt. "
Would you’ve appreciated to be a candidate in Metz?
"In one other life maybe … I don't fantasize about unattainable issues. Metz stays my delivery metropolis, the one the place I spent half my life. I’m glad to see the way it evolves by way of music, tradition, public transport. The achievements of this metropolis are significantly lovely. If we held the G7 Environment there, it's not for nothing. However one of many information the place I’ve made too little progress considerations the Moselle Nord and Luxembourg. In my duties, I negotiate with Luxembourg and Switzerland. The latter is worried by the six-kilometer railway development mission which is able to serve Basel Mulhouse Airport. Switzerland instantly said that it could co-finance. We’re shifting in the direction of a participation of 100 million on a mission which prices 340 million and which is being inbuilt France. The parallel with the A31bis is simple. This mission will vastly curiosity Luxembourg. In the meanwhile, the nation has agreed to finance iron, not the freeway.
What’s your notion of the elected officers of the Grand Est?
“Their variations are as a consequence of their territorial affiliation. The unique regional identification is kind of robust. In Alsace, it’s plain. In Lorraine, it’s too, however competitors between two metropolises isn’t an element of ease. That of Champagne-Ardenne is the least apparent. From all this, emerges an entire, the Grand Est, with factors which might be turning into robust. However if you find yourself in Reims or Troyes, you look extra in the direction of Paris than in the direction of the German border. Whereas in Metz, the Germans are neighbors. "
Does the Nice East work?
"It’s a area which continues to be very new, which must be consolidated, which has benefits by way of financial system. There’s a dimension impact which appears necessary to me. A brand new respect has settled within the eyes of our companions. When you must negotiate with massive principals, the voice is louder and louder. "
A survey reveals that half of the Alsatians want to depart the Nice East. What do you suppose?
"There may be an plain need for Alsace, however now we have to transcend that, conform to look extra usually on the different aspect of the Vosges mountains. The Champagne winery is a nugget that may profit the good Alsatian vineyards, these of the hills of Toul and Moselle. I’ve met licensees of sports activities golf equipment who’re very glad to satisfy golf equipment from Thionville or Reims not solely from Haguenau and the reverse can be true. It’s a query of respect and respect. You must bear in mind a narrative that not everybody has in thoughts and that Alsace and the Moselle inform. When Jacqueline Gourault got here (Minister of Territorial Cohesion, notice), I began by displaying her across the Schirmeck memorial. We don’t perceive this territory with out that. Once I labored on the regional council in 1979, I needed to write a textual content to accompany the creation of a Lorraine stamp. I wrote: "On the primary day, an everlasting battle makes the lifetime of Lorraine". I might write immediately: an everlasting battle makes life within the Nice East. The presidential roaming of November 2018 made me see it even higher. I used to be within the speedy surroundings of the Head of State to satisfy these memorial monuments and these financial companions. It was the spotlight of these two and a half years within the Grand Est. Emmanuel Macron is the expression of an funding in public affairs and within the love of others that I’ve by no means seen. "
And what was the worst second?
“The assaults on the Strasbourg Christmas market, these 48 hours continuous have been very troublesome. On a private degree, I might say racist insults so I used to be the thing. Anti-Semitic inscriptions have multiplied on cemeteries or the houses of elected officers. Lately, swastikas have been drawn within the village of Thal-Marmoutier on the home of an individual who takes care of the reception of migrants. This environment isn’t good. "
Does the realm of this area finally tame?
"Slightly, however it stays a burden which requires delegation. I used to be in a position to depend on very dependable departmental prefects to deal with important topics similar to commerce with Germany and Luxembourg. "
What’s the file you might be most pleased with?
"There may be the problem of institutional Alsace, the Strasbourg metropolitan park enabled by bypass. 400 hectares are actually to be managed with a really dominant and important inexperienced half in a mineral city. I'm glad I made progress on the A31 bis. The Ardennes Pact and the Cigeo en Meuse contract are additionally crucial. "
Your most lovely assembly?
“Returning residence to the Grand Est. I’m leaving however not in order to not return, the Messina base stays. There are nonetheless locations to find. I went at the park Sainte-Croix between Christmas and New 12 months. I slept within the coyote barn. I’m very glad to have found this instructional and scientific place that we assist. My final greeting card is predicated on the “Marianne” which seems on the wall of the Sgami (Basic Secretariat for Administration of the Ministry of the Inside in Metz) created as a part of Constellations. I’ve an excessive love for the Marianas. "
How do you relate to the passage of time?
“You must stay with it. What’s reassuring is that I maintain making discoveries and I at all times really feel in a position to progress. Bodily, I not really feel like after I was 40 or 50 however I proceed to take part in competitions. I at all times swim two to a few occasions every week and run each week. I ran the New York Marathon final November. I completed 39,000 out of 53,000. The course may be very good, it's loopy with two million spectators. After we attain the tip, it hurts in every single place. For 5 years, I run a marathon a yr. The following one is scheduled for the second half of 2020. You will need to maintain bodily and mental health. I like this sentence from Michel Onfray: "I’m my physique and nothing else". It solely wears out when you don't use it. "
How will we maintain this form?
"You must have a manufacturing exercise of providers or items no matter it’s. To make a distinction between mental and handbook work makes me horrible. What takes up probably the most house within the mind is the palms. Nothing beats studying which has a novel impression on the mind. We management it, we cease after we need. I apply the faith of the written phrase. I at all times attempt to insert a documentary work and a novel even when the novels find yourself catching me. That is the final Pierre Lemaitre. Recently I learn The Fabrice des Salauds by Chris Kraus, a bit within the fashion of kindly by Jonathan Littell, extra romanticized. "
In addition to politics, studying and sports activities, what are you going to do in retirement?
“I intend to domesticate my backyard in each sense of the phrase. In my profession and my numerous dwellings, wherever I might, I put a vegetable backyard to domesticate easy issues: potatoes, carrots, zucchini. I'm going to begin over at Cahors. In 2019, I turned a grandfather twice. My 5 kids are nonetheless what I did greatest. I want to intensify my relationships with my grandchildren. "
Prefect on February 2, nothing extra on the third: is that this tough as a departure?
"Sure, however it's the legislation of the style. Mobility is made in order that we don’t permit ourselves to be influenced by native pursuits. You must minimize and go some place else. I believe the best period may very well be higher than the present two and even two and a half years. 4 or 5 years wouldn’t be indecent. "
