Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the International City of the French Language at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts, renovated for the occasion, this Monday, October 30. The project initiated by the Head of State in 2017, however, faces criticism, particularly political.
The event is attracting the full attention of the Elysée: the International City of the French Language was inaugurated this Monday, October 30 at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts. And of course Emmanuel Macron, who himself initiated the project in 2017, was present and was the first to set foot on the ground of the Château de l’Aisne, which was completely renovated for the occasion. The Head of State who attended the finalization of his project stressed that “never a place had been dedicated to the history of our language” before the creation of this City during his speech to the 500 guests of the event.
Filled with good intentions, starting with saving from ruin the castle of Villers-Cotterêts in which François I had signed, in 1539, the ordinance imposing the use of French in the drafting of legal and administrative texts instead of Latin , the creation of the International City of the French Language – intended to be the “beating heart of the Francophonie” according to the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak – is not unanimous.
An investment of 210 million euros that raises eyebrows
Critics were raised against the new temple of French among the members of the French Academy, defenders of the language of Molière. The essayist, novelist and academician Jean-Marie Rouart did not fail to criticize a form of hypocrisy according to him. The academician’s first attack: the cost of the project estimated at 210 million euros. “It’s 210 million euros that will be taken from what? From the help that we could provide to French institutes which are in distress. The French Academy, what is it for, if not for that. It serves to the defense and illustration of the French language” he said on Europe 1 denouncing a useless investment. A position that he reaffirmed at the microphone of Franceinfo : “We are spending a crazy amount of money on this castle which will be of no use. The French language is expressed through literature, it is not a museum object.”
A criticism also formulated by certain residents of Villers-Cotterêts, a town which according to them deserves to be revitalized. “A large majority of people in Villers-Cotterêts do not agree with everything that is happening. We arrive at 210 million euros, that is what does not work. We could have put this money elsewhere,” regretted a resident of the city at the microphone of Franceinfo.
Jean-Marie Rouart’s opinion is, however, not shared by his fellow academicians. Erik Orsenna notably judged the essayist harsh and considers the International City as “a gratitude to our language”. As for the criticism of a useless museum, he retorts: “It is not a museum that has been built, it is a city, a town, in which we will see all the possibilities of language.” In the opinion of the director of the City, Paul Rondin, the castle “is not here to preserve the French language, but to bring it to life, to reveal its extraordinary diversity”.
A project also political for Emmanuel Macron
The investment made by Emmanuel Macron in 2017, when he was still a candidate in the presidential election, undeniably has a political aspect. The Château de Villers-Cotterêts is located in a town of 10,000 inhabitants acquired during the National Rally with Mayor Franck Briffaut at the head of the Town Hall since 2014. The creation of the International City on these lands would therefore be a way to Emmanuel Macron to promote himself to the far-right electorate.
Not all members of the far right welcomed the project. The deputy Jocelyn Designy who denounces to Franceinfo a form of “contempt” towards the Caudrésians who were, according to him, “taken for imbeciles, illiterates, as we have read in the various newspapers.” But Mayor Franck Briffaut assures for his part that the City has “gone out of its way to support this project in all the ways that it was possible for us to do so”, “contrary to what [le chef de l’Etat, ndlr] expected.”
The opposition between the presidential camp and the National Rally is found in the speech from the Elysée which assured at the time of the inauguration that “this project is an antidote to the feeling of abandonment. It is even a way of outline future prospects, to show that the recovery of a territory does not require withdrawal into oneself, but through openness towards others through values of universalism and progressivism. However, Jocelyn Dessigny believes that the Head of State has not succeeded in attracting the electorate of Villers-Cotterêts: “The expected effects are not up to his ambitions since today, the more we progress in this project, and the more the voters of Villers-Cotterêts vote for the National Rally.”