“Changing our method to stay on course”
By François de Canson, vice-president of the Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
We are living through a shift. The world is not wavering: it is reshaping itself through conflict. Landmarks are fading, power dynamics are asserting themselves, and interdependencies are becoming vulnerabilities. Law often yields to force, free trade to protectionism, and cooperation to mistrust.
This shift in the international system extends to the interior of our societies through a rising feeling of insecurity, social and territorial fragmentation, and civic disenchantment. At a time when everything seems negotiable, the demand for direction, clarity, and continuity becomes essential.
Faced with this upheaval, the Région Sud cannot govern as it did yesterday. Under the leadership of Renaud Muselier, we are choosing to change our method. This is not an ideological shift, and even less a renunciation.
Our priorities remain: the 2030 Winter Olympic Games, ecological transition, attractiveness, and quality of life. But in an unstable world, these ambitions call for a structured, clear, and robust mode of action.
This is the meaning of the VALEURS plan — Vision, Authority, Freedom, Europe, Respect, Sovereignty. It is not a slogan. It is a compass. A grammar of action at the service of the general interest. Confronting reality with consistency, firmness, and discernment.
Our vision is that of a stable region, protective yet open, rooted yet forward-looking. This stability is already ours; it must become our strength. Our governance, committed until 2028, gives us the breath of the long term.
This first implies reaffirming the authority of public power. Not performative authority, but that which protects, structures, and pacifies. That of the kept promise.
Ensuring security in high schools, transport, and shared spaces: this is not an option, it is a condition of freedom.
This then implies reconnecting with a sovereignty of local action. In a world where dependencies have become vulnerabilities, supporting our sectors and know-how — culture, defense, agri-food, energy, innovation, tourism — is no longer an economic preference, it is a political imperative.
Finally, this method asserts a clear-sighted European vision. Europe is our anchor, but it must once again become a concrete and protective lever.
Our legitimacy to carry this demand is simple: stability. In an environment under tension, it gives us the freedom to act without being subjected, to plan for the long term, to remain true to our line.
Changing our method does not mean abandoning our convictions. It means giving them the means to endure.
The Région Sud must be a point of balance. A region that protects without excluding, that acts quietly, that keeps its word.
A respected, stable, fully French, deeply European region.
Photo Philippe OLIVIER.