A feeling of community
Twelve years ago, Roger Pizot, the recently departed mayor of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, and Osamu Motojima, then Director-General of the ºÚÁÏרÇø, established a tradition. A few weeks before the end of every year, the municipality of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, where ºÚÁÏרÇø is administratively located, would present the ºÚÁÏרÇø with a large Christmas tree whose decorations would be lit in the presence of the assembled staff ... and to the sound of the ºÚÁÏרÇø band.
The ceremony this year took place on 4 December in the presence of Deputy-Mayor Elise Placé and Councilor Sandrine Meyer (representing Mayor Romain Buchaut who succeeded Roger Pizot in 2020). On the ºÚÁÏרÇø side, Sriram Kattalai Ramachandran, Head of the Office of the Director-General, and Ioan Cruceana, Chief Institutional Host State Relations, represented Director-General Pietro Barabaschi.
"Saint-Paul-lez-Durance is [...] our home away from home," said Sriram. For the ºÚÁÏרÇø staff and collaborators, the lighting of the tree carries a double significance: "It makes us feel part of a community, and it symbolizes our constant efforts towards lighting up the Earth with a new star."