A French mayor desperate to keep his village’s birthrates up and schools open is looking to the little blue pill for help.
Montereau Mayor Jean Debouzy is offering free Viagra to local couples in the hopes that he can boost the number of babies born, revitalize the town and keep the doors of the local school open. But he’s not limiting the offer to current residents — transplants are also invited to partake in his proposed deal.
“A village without children is a village that dies,” he told French outletThe Local.
Debouzy issued a municipal decree Thursday declaring his offer, which is valid for couples between the ages of 18 and 40, to “give them the chance of conception and thus preserve the schools of the two villages,” according to the outlet.
He oversees both Montereau, which has about 30 children in the school, and the nearby La Cour-Marigny, which has about 40, according toLe Parisien. The towns are located about 80 miles south of Paris.
“One or two of four classes could shut… we want our children to stay in Montereau,” he told local TV station France 3, according toThe Telegraph.
So far, no one has taken Debouzy up on his offer, which is likely a good thing considering the mayor told theLocalhe doesn’t even have any Viagra to hand out yet.
“If needs be, I’ll get the agreement of the council and we’ll get a stock in,” he told the outlet, adding that the village council is considering offering payments to any couples who have a child.
The legality of Debouzy’s offer is hazy, as Viagra can’t be obtained in France without a doctor’s prescription, but the mayor says the actual medicine isn’t the point – he simply wants to bring attention to the problem.
The stunt is similar to that pulled by a herder in the French village of Crêts-en-Belledonne, who registered 50 sheep at the local school in order to bring attention to “threshold logic” which could potentially close the schools, according to theBBC.
Source: https://people.com/travel/french-mayor-offers-free-viagra/