Pierre de Saintignon

- Pierre de Saintignon was born on 22 May 1948 in Angers, a city in western France, about 300 km southwest of Paris. He is the third in a family of five boys. His mother, Monique Larmoyer, is a speech and language therapist. His father, François de Saintignon (1912–1972), was a lawyer (avocat) before being held prisoner during World War II.After the Liberation he became Directeur de la Population (in charge of Health and Welfare) for the Maine-et-Loir department.The Saintignon were a Lotharingian noble family from Verdun. Notable members of the family were Fernand de Saintignon (1846–1921), ironmaster at Longwy and Pierre Amidieu du Clos (1881–1955), deputy and mayor of Longwy.

During his infancy, Pierre de Saintignon was impaired by dyslexia. Many years after, in an interview, he recalled that fr:Claude Chassagny, founder of the relational pedagogy of language, told to his mother, "put him on a horse, it is the best mediator", before concluding: "the horses have occupied my life for 15 years. It saved me and it's been a great passion". At the end, he reintegrated a standard secondarycursus, obtained his Baccalauréat and started higher studies in Economics.

Then, living in Paris, he joined in 1967 the SFIO, two years before its replacement by the today's PS. The same year, he entered the Inserm (French Institute of Health and Medical Research, more precisely the CTNEAI (National Technical Center for Impaired Childhood and Adolescence). He endorsed missions in five French departments, one of themat Grenoble, with its mayor Hubert Dubedout (PS). He also did five years of researchon child abuse at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital.

In 1977, he moved to Lille,north of France,to become the administrative director of the Sauvegarde du Nord, an association that supports people facing adversities, mainly young people.

From his results, he was recruited in 1990 to become a director of Darty,a leader of Electrical retailing in France. He stays 10years in the group.

In 1989, Pierre Mauroy, the former French Prime Minister (PS) was elected for the third term as Mayor of Lille. Pierre de Saintignon was one of the municipal councilors elected on the PS list. And from now on, he remains an elected councilor, the respective scores of the PS leaded lists being 53.86%(1989), 48.5%(1995), 49.6%(2001), 66.6%(2008), 52,05%(2014). From the 1989, he is in charge of social insertion and economic development. With the rank of First Deputy Mayorfrom 2001, when Martine Aubry became Mayor in succession of Pierre Mauroy.

Similarly, Pierre de Saintignon has been elected regional councilor from 1998 onwards. The coalition, PS headed, he was with obtained respectively45.13% (together) and 51 seats in 1998;51.84% and73 seats in 2004; 51,90% and 73 seats in 2010 (each time among 113 seats). With the rank of First Vice-President of the Council, in charge of economic development.

Moreover, he was member of the staff of several Ministers. In 1988, with Michel Delebarre for the Revenu minimum d'insertion (social welfare). In 1991, with Martine Aubry, thenMinistre du Travail.In all these circumstances, he is not under the spotlights, and acts rather as a trusted chief of staff. He is often described as a go-between towards the Industry and Finance circles and, more generally, as an efficient negotiator.

When it came to select the leader of the PS list for the 2015 regional election, Pierre de Saintignon was chosen. This was described as a gambit: a good knowledge of the place versus leaving the shadow and leading the battle under his own name. In any case, the odds were not good due to the low popularity of both the French President François Hollande and the government's policy. When the name of Pierre de Saintignon was published, the opinion polls gave the PS below 20% for the first round (unless a fusion with other lists occurs before the ballot). In any case, second round PS coalition is forecast as the last of the three lists that are expected to remain in competition. This results into predicting a meltdown of the 2010s 51.90%to only 2015's 32% or less.But, due to the electoral law, the final result is far worse: the 73 elected seats of 2010 for Nord + Pas-de-Calais are expected to melt into only (120*.75)*32%=29 seats!Aggravating the general tendency is the fact that, in the North–Pas-de-Calais–Picardy region, the two other 'second round' lists are conducted by the top mediatic leaders of their respective parties, while their challenger is sometimes described as the "Inconnu du Nord".

In a press conference held on 23 September 2015, Martine Aubry confirmed the choice of Pierre de Saintignon.and said that such bad polls are partly caused by some PS Minister's behaviour, even stating«Macron ? How to tell it... The cup is full».Backing Emmanuel Macron (appointed 2014 as Minister of Economy), the French Premier replied that Saintignon was something like a casting error, due to a lack of notoriety. During a France Info broadcast an interviewer asked if the lack of a French Wikipedia entry for Pierre de Saintignon could be held as an objective measure of a low notoriety. Indeed, such an article was created in July, 6358 bits length, but speedy deleted thereafter (in less than two hours). With the verdict: don't fit the criteria, don't deserve a page.

And then, a journalist at the Nord Littoral daily decided to experiment and know better how the meals are cooked inside of the Wikipedia kitchen. With the obvious pseudonym Nordlittoral, the journalist tried to create again a page about Pierre de Saintignon. Within two hours, while the work was in progress, the page was again speedy deleted and locked. With the same non sequitur: don't fit the criteria, don't deserve a page. And the story turned into a buzz. In the evening, an article by Le Monde and another by Le Figaro, i.e. the main political national newspapers. The next day, at least an article by La Voix du Nord (daily) and columnsby Le Nouvel Observateur and RTL.

The conclusion of the Nord Littoral's study was "If the new notoriety of Pierre Saintignon deserves an article, administrators should have let our stub stay as a starting point. Except that the debate on his notoriety must be resolved before we can proceed".

In an official comment, released 19 Oct 2018, Pierre de Saintignon summarized his 2015-2018 activities as follows:

I informed the president of the region of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, that I am stopping to be the one who brings the word of the Socialists to the region. The time has come to give way to those who have the will and the ambition to engage in the next regional elections.

I took on this mission for almost three years. The stake was clear: to allow the left to express itself on the texts of the institution whereas it was no longer present in the hemicycle, because of my decision to withdraw in the second round to prevent Mrs Le Pen to access the presidency.

Xavier Bertrand, as he committed himself to do, sent us all the deliberations relating to the region. Before each session, either myself alone or accompanied by elected officials interested in the issues, we met with him to discuss the context and intentions of the various texts. We have each time given our opinion and expressed our points of disagreement or concern about certain measures.

These meetings allowed me, moreover, to inform the President and to defend the projects carried by certain actors of the territory (elected officials, associations, or companies). I have often been heard, particularly on issues related to employment, training, economic development, or grants related to local projects. I also continued to receive associations and unions of companies in difficultyin the region, as well as their economic leaders to open the door to solutions.

I welcome the quality of the dialogue that we have maintained despite our differences. The region deserves that we take care of it beyond partisan cleavages, to meet the urgent needs of our fellow citizens. I will of course maintain close relations with Xavier Bertrand on all matters of general interest.

I recommend to those who will succeed me in this task and to the Socialist Party of the five departments of the Hauts-de-France to understand that the urgency is to go again to meet our fellow citizens to talk with them about their situations , their rejoicing and their worries, and so build with them and for them the prospects of a better future.

I see it as the condition for the return of trust.

Pierre de Saintignon died five months later, on 09 March 2019.