The mayor of Limoges is controversial after wishing “a merry Christmas in the joy of the Lord”

A phrase that is controversial, a few days before the holidays. Alors qu’il clôturait la dernière séance de l’année du conseil municipal, le maire LR de Limoges, Émile Roger Lombertie, a addressé ses voeux à ses conseillers de él, en ponctuant ceux-ci d’une formule qui n’a pas plus to everyone.

“I wish you, your families and your friends a very Merry Christmas in the peace and joy of the Lord”, launched the councilor.

left outrage

A statement that provoked a reaction within the local political class, especially within the ranks of the left. “How can the chief magistrate of Limoges trample on the fundamental principle of secularism in this way?!” Stéphane Destruhaut, PS vice-president of the Haute-Vienne Departmental Council, was particularly outraged.

Thibault Bergeron, a PS opposition councilor in Limoges, accuses the mayor of “undermining the constitutional value of secularism.”

“The mayor of Limoges now has the support of the extreme right in his statements. I am doubly ashamed of my city…”, added the socialist, while the sentence of Émile Roger Lombertie was very well received in the seats of the extreme right.

far-right support

“Listen to Émile Roger Lombertie, mayor of Limoges, bravo! Finally someone who does not crawl in fear of words and our roots! All my support!” tweeted Gilbert Collard MEP, former National Rally and former honorary president of Reconquista, the party of Éric Zemmour.

Guest on the set of CnewsFor his part, the spokesman for the National Grouping Julien Odoul estimated that the controversy would never have been carried out by “elected officials who wish a good Ramadan to all our compatriots of the Muslim faith.”

“There is a small sprain but it is not the fault” on the part of the mayor, he still estimated.

Supporters of the extreme right that the left has not failed to highlight, such as the subsidiary of France Insoumise in Haute-Vienne. “We reap what we sow. Émile Roger Lombertie, here is your end-of-year gift to the city: an insult to secularism that makes you win the support of Éric Zemmour’s camp. You will allege humor… In truth, you have to embarrass Limoges and its people,” the local branch of the party tweeted.

For its part, the Union of Secular Families of Haute-Vienne also reacted by recalling the “recommendations” of the Association of Mayors of France. “Elected officials, and especially mayors and their deputies, must adopt a neutral and secular personal attitude in the exercise of their functions.”