Vanik Berberian, instigator of the rural agenda, is dead

Vanik Berberian died in Chateauroux on Tuesday March 9 from cancer. He was 65 years old.

Mayor of Gargilesse-Dampierre and president of the rural mayors of Indre, he was the instigator of the great national debate, organized to get out of the yellow vests crisis.

Grandson of a philosopher who fled the Armenian genocide, son of an immigrant, Vanik Berbérian was born in Paris but defended rurality. He discovered Garglisse-Dampierre in the 1980s and made it the land of his new roots after the exile of his ancestors.

His mandates as mayor and president of the AMRF
In 1989, he became mayor of the village of Gargilesse-Dampierre in Indre and will remain so until the start of his 6th term, in 2020. The inhabitants of Gargilesse-Dampierre will remember the man who took his coffee at the village bistro, because he liked this conviviality and wanted to be a mayor « within range of yelling ».

In 2008, he took over as head of AMRF. After 2 terms, he passed his hand following a discomfort during the vows ceremony in his village. Michel Fournier succeeded him.

His actions
Indispensable on issues of rurality, he opposed medical desertification, the closure of local public services, school closures or the haemorrhaging of businesses in the countryside.

In February 2019, he received Emmanuel Macron in his village to talk about medical desertification in front of Berry mayors. In the summer of the same year, Vanik Berberian was elevated to the rank of Knight of the Legion of Honor under the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities.

The rural agenda
The mayor of Gargilesse-Dampierre participated in the creation of the rural agenda presented by Edouard Philippe in September 2019. There were 173 measures aimed at « giving back choices, freedom and services to residents ».

To achieve this agenda, the elected representative traveled across France, listening to the mayors for whom he was the spokesperson with the public authorities. He fought for recognition of the status of elected official and to preserve the balance of French territory. Maintaining public services in rural communities was a priority despite the evils and injustices from which they suffered. ‘ » Rural municipalities are an opportunity for the future of France, for its future development, for ecological and inclusive transition « he added.

The “Yellow Vests” crisis
Vanik Berbérian understood the need of the French to speak out during the Yellow Vest crisis « . With the AMRF, he was the first to open the doors of town halls to allow fellow citizens to write their demands in notebooks of grievances. Operation « Open Townships » helped turn the anger of the French into solutions thanks to the Grand National Debate

Death
Vanik Berberian had been battling an illness for several months. The elected official died on March 9 at the Châteauroux follow-up care center.

Tributes

• The President of the Republic greeted « a politician who has devoted himself body and soul to his municipality and to the defense of rurality, to the vitality of democratic debate and of the French Republic. He sent his respectful condolences to his family, his loved ones, the mayors with whom he worked and to all Gargilessois.

• Prime Minister Jean Castex greeted a man « who passionately loved France and its territories ». « Its fight for rurality and for its inhabitants will remain an example and a model of commitment. »

• His successor at the head of the AMRF, Michel Fournier: “The mayors are losing a friend and a national and endearing personality. They feel that they are orphans this evening ”…” Lovers of our countryside which he has traveled with a benevolent and complicit gaze, he leaves an imprint on the positive development of rurality thanks to his strength of conviction and the decisive role he plays. had in the emergence of a Rural Agenda ”.

• François Baroin, President (LR) of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), praised the memory of a « committed and passionate actor in the service of rural communities ».

• The Secretary of State for Rural Affairs, Joël Girard: « The Republic loses an exceptional mayor ». « Our best tribute will be to give life and body to his message for rural areas ».

• François Bayrou: « Vanik Berbérian, enthusiastic president of rural mayors, left after a long fight » … « I think of him, so committed, so loyal and malicious, I think of his family, of his companions. With gratitude ”.

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VERONIQUE YANG

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