>A wealthy family is attempting to implement a utopian experiment with the goal of settling 70 refugee families in the quaint French town of Callac, and while no member of the family actually lives in the town, they are willing to invest millions of euros from their fortune to make their vision a reality.
>Known as the Horizon Project, the scheme would be funded with money from the private Merci fund, which was created by Marie-France Cohen and is managed by her three sons. While the Cohen’s fund is reportedly spearheading the project, other financing would come from federal taxpayer subsidies and the local municipality.
>Despite the wealthy family’s desire to create what they describe as a multicultural “Noah’s Ark of modern times” that can be replicated in other towns, residents of Callas are resisting the project, pointing out that no one in the family will have to actually deal with the consequences of their experimental “Noah’s Ark” and the long-term consequences for their small town. That is why residents of the Brittany town of Callac have launched a citizens’ group opposed to the scheme, calling “for defending the identity of Callac,” with the group made up of Danielle Le Men, Michel Riou, and Moulay Drissi.
>Given the unemployment struggles people from Callac have faced, the citizens’ group is asking why the Cohen family is not interested in helping employ the people in the town who already live there. In a petition, they write, “We believe that the millions of euros that this project would cost should be invested as a priority for the local population, via the renovation of housing, via energy aid, via the development of the town of Callac and the surrounding municipalities, to allow locals to flourish there and those who want to come and settle there without monetary assistance to do so later.”
>In the group’s letter to the mayor, they also point to the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) to validate their concerns, which states the unemployment rate in Callac was 17.6 percent for those aged 15 to 64 as of 2018. That means nearly one out of five working-age people has no job in the town, yet dozens of refugee families are being brought in and allegedly being set up with new jobs.
