France/ Towards a new twinning arrangement for Névez

The municipal council of Névez, near Concarneau (Finistère), has approved the twinning committee's proposal to twin the commune with Saint-Germain-Lembron, in the Puy-de-Dôme region.

On Thursday September 25, 2025, at a municipal council meeting, the elected representatives of Névez (Finistère) unanimously approved the principle of a new twinning arrangement, and agreed to create one with the municipality of Saint-Germain-Lembron, in the Puy-de-Dôme region of France.a new twinning arrangement with the commune of Saint-Germain-Lembron, in the Puy-de-Dôme region of France's Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

The commune of Les Contamines-Montjoie, Névez's former twin town, had terminated the twinning arrangement in September 2024.

Public survey

Since then, the Névez twinning committee has been working to identify a new partnership. It has carried out a survey of associations, schools, youth clubs, elected representatives, craftsmen, shopkeepers and, more generally, the people of Névez.

The questionnaires showed that the twin town should have a population of 2,000 to 3,000, and be located in the mountains, 600 to 800 km away. From there, the committee set about identifying towns in the Massif Central and western Pyrenees whose characteristics matched the expectations expressed in the survey.

Of the 42 communities surveyed, two were shortlisted - one in Puy-de-Dôme, the other in Lozère, with which very positive exchanges have been established," says Pierre Menthéour, president of the twinning committee.The final choice was Saint-Gemain-Lembron, whose network of associations matches that of Névez. This will facilitate sports, cultural and social projects aimed at young people, families and the elderly.

Hergé's shelter in 1940

The commune of Saint-Germain-Lembron lies 778 km from Névez: it is 35 km from Clermont-Ferrand and 15 km from Issoire, and has a population of 2,020 (1,663 in 1999, an increase of over 21%). A little anecdote: this rural village was home to Hergé (Tintin) in 1940.

In Saint-Germain-Lembron, the elected representatives contacted remain reserved for the time being: it's only on Thursday October 2 that their municipal council will be asked to vote on this project. We've never been twinned before, so everything's new for us," says town councillor Claude Borel.

In Névez, Pierre Menthéour is optimistic: "The next steps are the signing of a charter and an agreement between the town councils and the twinning committees, consultation with our associations, and then it's off to the projects!

Source: www.ouest-france.fr/