If you need reminding why France is so aggravating, pay a visit to the political hometown of Ségolène Royal, newly selected as the Socialist candidate for next spring’s presidential elections. Melle, a small market town between Poitiers and the port of La Rochelle, has been Royal’s political base camp since 1988, when she was first elected to the national assembly.
On paper, Melle should not work. Unemployment runs at some 12 per cent, and has been at that level for years. A single chemicals factory dominates the local economy, though it offers only 350 jobs. According to political opponents of Mme Royal, not one large private firm has been lured to the area in two decades.
Yet Melle is in excellent repair — thanks to a torrent of public money. Though it is barely more than a village, with 4,500 people, Melle’s public services are housed in mansions of honey-coloured stone, and art deco halls.
The town boasts a covered market, an 11th-century church and a wrought-iron bandstand out of a children’s picture book. Even by French standards, there are a lot of smart municipal signposts pointing to yet more public works: from the ‘multi-media library’ to a brace of museums, a sports complex and a medical college. Down the road is a regional centre of excellence for the care of autistic children, brought to the town during one of Mme Royal’s three brief stints in government, as minister for the family. The nerve centre of all this spending is a tasteful farmhouse just off the market square, with blue shutters and wisteria climbing its walls. This, on further inspection, turns out to be Ségolène Royal’s constituency office.
Melle is an outrageous example of favouritism and pork-barrel spending that should shame all France. It is also very lovely, and would be a nice place in which to own a house.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in