La Poste Groupe publishes its Integrated Annual Report for 2023

Hello everyone. Today we're going to talk about the usefulness of La Poste and its positive impact on the regions with Gil Avérous, Mayor of Châteauroux, President of Châteauroux Métropole, Director of La Poste Groupe and member of La Poste's Mission Committee.

Good morning, Mr Avérous.

Good morning.

Which of La Poste's initiatives has been most useful or had the greatest impact in your area?

It's the creation of a France Services post office in a priority urban neighbourhoods. It's not really where I expected La Poste outlet to be. And finally, I thought, why didn't we think of this before? This France Services post officesin the city didn't seem so obvious because you get the impression that you already have all the public services. And what really showed me that it was useful and essential was the feedback I got from the residents who said to me on the day of the inauguration: "Really, Mr Mayor, it's very useful. We go there very regularly, particularly on the digital subjects of support, demystification, and the administrative procedures that must now be carried out over the Internet. It's a real public service provided in our area. It's really useful. And it's fair to say that La Poste, whether in town or country, is now providing an essential service.

What local issues does this initiative address?

La Poste's local initiative meets a key challenge in terms of regional cohesion. Through its postal presence and the service it provides to its fellow citizens, La Poste is reconciling local residents with the public service and with politics in the etymological sense of the term, which is the management of cities. La Poste still embodies this public service mission, and it goes further than its universal mission of delivering mail. Today, it focuses on the human element, and centre, through the France Services post offices, but also through new services such as home delivery of meals and support for the elderly with tablets to keep them connected. La Poste is the last bank that will open a bank account for you when all the others will refuse.

What concrete impact has the creation of this France Services post office had on the opinions of your fellow citizens in Châteauroux?

For our fellow citizens in Châteauroux, in very concrete terms, it has enabled them to regain confidence and a link with administrations that they no longer go to because they feel they've been cut off. As you know, there is less of a physical presence at many government offices these days. Historically, we had a central town hall with a number of annex town halls. Over time, we closed our branch town halls. But in the meantime, La Poste has remained present. It has even increased its presence in terms of opening hours, since it is present in six districts of the town through the La Poste Relais (in partner retail outlets), through a local postal agency (managed by the local council) where there is a partnership between the town and La Poste, and through its traditional offices. So for us, typically, La Poste is also a local service that brings citizens closer to the public services that the town hall offers today. We have a lot of online services, but often, to use them, our fellow citizens go to La Poste and say ah voilà, could you explain to me how I go about ordering my composter? Because the town hall asks you to register online to make an appointment to collect your composter. It's the post pffice employee who's going to explain to our resident in the Saint-Jean or Saint-Jacques neighbourhoods how to log on to the Internet and make an appointment with the Town Hall.

Hello everyone. Today, we’re going to talk about major joint projects between La Poste and Caisse des Dépôts to provide citizens with an ever-better service, with Éric Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of Caisse des Dépôts and member of the Board of Directors of La Poste. 

Éric Lombard, in a few words, what value brings La Poste and Caisse des Dépôts together?

Like La Poste, Caisse des Dépôts is the face of trust. Why is that? Because we manage the savings of the French people. This gives us significant resources but also an equally important responsibility. Caisse des Dépôts has always been associated with a large network. Originally, at the beginning of the 18th century, it was that of the Caisse d’Epargne. But since their departure to form the large BPCE group, for me, Caisse des Dépôts lacked a large network on which to rely.

What major projects are La Poste and Caisse des Dépôts working on together?

We have a number of joint projects that revolve around two strategic priorities. The first one is to play an active role in combating climate change and biodiversity damage. We are extraordinarily active together in this area. In this respect, La Poste is a key player. Decarbonising the economy requires massive investment, because in reality, we need to transform everything. Housing, mobility, energy generation, our industry. This requires considerable financial resources. And the merger of our two groups gives us unaparalleled financial resources. The total commitments of La Poste Groupe and Caisse des Dépôts group amount to €1,300 billion, or half of our country's GDP.

And what is the second strategic focus shared by La Poste and Caisse des Dépôts?

La Poste is about trust, and it's also about proximity, with 17,000 postal contact points with all French people. In this, we have a common mandate that transcends all of us and which is our second strategic objective: to address inequalities between regions and between people in France. This is made possible through new local services, including in health, where there are so many joint projects. I would also like to mention Etape Numérique spaces, France services post offices and local authorities that we finance together with the Banque des Territoires and La Banque Postale. We are leading a joint transformation project as we adapt to a changing world. And to conclude, I would simply like to say that behind the strategic projects, behind the institutions, behind the figures, there are two communities with extraordinarily similar values: the community of Caisse des Dépôts employees and the community of postal workers.

Hello everyone. Today we're going to talk about the positive impact that an association and La Poste Groupe can have on society with Fatima Riahi, founder and director of solidarity-based market garden business Les Jardins de la Montagne Verte and member of La Poste’s Mission Committee.

To begin with, we'd like you to tell us a bit about what you do with your association Les jardins de la Montagne Verte.

Les jardins de la Montagne Verte is an association based in Strasbourg, right in the city centre. It started out as an urban farm, and its social mission focuses mainly on the right to work. In fact, the idea is to take in people with difficulties, vulnerable people, people without work, through activities such as organic market gardening, aromatic and medicinal plants, processing and carpentry. The idea is to support these people over a two-year period so that they can find their way back into entrepreneurship, business or training. We produce about three tonnes of vegetables and plants a week. We have developed a very strong local food mission.

What impact has your association had on the ground?

The impact of our association is diverse and varied. The first is job creation. Secondly, we produce organically, so we have a real look at how we work our land. That's the second thing. The third thing is that our association has a wide range of commitments. Of course, we have a volunteer Board of Directors. We also have a lot of volunteers who work on our land and gardens. We have schools that come to visit and work on environmental awareness.

Can you tell us about the links between your association and La Poste Groupe?

In my role as director and founder Les Jardins de la Montagne Verte, the first thing I was able to do with La Poste was to initiate a skills sponsorship. In fact, two employees from La Poste have joined the association for more than 18 months each to help us with our projects. When a company gives of its skills, gives of its human resources, gives of its human wealth, well that's what's important!

You are also a member of La Poste's Mission Committee. In this capacity, what do you think of La Poste's impact on the voluntary sector?

There's already a lot being done in terms of La Poste's impact on the voluntary sector because a lot of postal workers are involved in voluntary organisations. In any case, what I've seen of La Poste is its commitment, for example, to certain associations in the social economy.

In 2023, we asked La Poste to make a donation of 20 computers for about twenty women, because,  otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to train as cooks, as is the case here in Alsace.