In Deauville, hunters reaffirm their unity and ambition

A Congress and a General Assembly at the Heart of French Hunting and Rural Life, Rooted in Normandy

On March 18 and 19, 2026, in the heart of Nor­mandy, in Deau­ville, the Deau­ville Inter­na­tion­al Centre (CID) hos­ted the Gen­er­al Assembly and Con­gress of the Nation­al Fed­er­a­tion of Hunters (FNC), mak­ing the city a focal point for hunt­ing and rur­al life in France.

Rep­res­ent­at­ives from all depart­ment­al and region­al fed­er­a­tions, del­eg­a­tions from over­seas ter­rit­or­ies, part­ners, and elec­ted offi­cials: this nation­wide mobil­iz­a­tion illus­trated the strength, cohe­sion, and oper­a­tion­al capa­city of the hunt­ing network.

A Large-Scale Mobilization in a Setting Befitting the Event

With sev­er­al hun­dred par­ti­cipants attend­ing both the Con­gress and the Gen­er­al Assembly, the strong turnout con­firms the dynam­ism and ter­rit­ori­al roots of hunt­ing in France.

The CID’s facil­it­ies played a key role in the suc­cess of these two days, offer­ing spaces tailored to each major moment:

• Michel d’Ornano Aud­it­or­i­um for plen­ary ses­sions and the Gen­er­al Assembly
• Hall 4 for the open­ing dinner
• Hall 1 for the clos­ing lunch

This smooth organ­iz­a­tion made it pos­sible to effect­ively com­bine insti­tu­tion­al sequences with moments of con­vi­vi­al­ity, fos­ter­ing exchanges and the shar­ing of experiences.

Political Recognition Matching the Stakes

The Con­gress was also marked by the pres­ence of rep­res­ent­at­ives of the State, as well as nation­al and loc­al elec­ted offi­cials, high­light­ing the import­ance of hunt­ing-related issues in pub­lic debate.

This insti­tu­tion­al mobil­iz­a­tion under­scores the cent­ral role of these top­ics, at the cross­roads of biod­iversity, rur­al life, and ter­rit­ori­al management.

A Clear and Assertive Direction for the Future of Hunting

Des­pite suf­fer­ing from a triple leg frac­ture, the Pres­id­ent of the FNC, Willy Schraen, delivered a determ­ined address, reaf­firm­ing a strong con­vic­tion: hunt­ing is both a way of life, a com­mit­ment to serving nature, and a space of free­dom for nearly one mil­lion French people.

His speech was a bold and unapo­lo­get­ic assess­ment that went bey­ond report­ing facts to dis­mantle pre­con­ceived ideas. He high­lighted con­crete res­ults, asser­ted the cent­ral role of hunters in biod­iversity man­age­ment, and clearly con­tras­ted on-the-ground real­it­ies with ideo­lo­gic­al positions.

It was a straight­for­ward speech that asser­ted, demon­strated, and reposi­tioned hunters as use­ful, mod­ern, and essen­tial stakeholders.

The CID, Partner of Major National Events

By host­ing this struc­tur­ing event, the Deau­ville Inter­na­tion­al Centre con­firms its pos­i­tion as a key play­er in organ­iz­ing large-scale nation­al events.

Thanks to the qual­ity of its infra­struc­ture and the flex­ib­il­ity of its spaces, the CID suc­cess­fully met the require­ments of a Con­gress and a Gen­er­al Assembly com­bin­ing insti­tu­tion­al ses­sions, pub­lic speak­ing engage­ments, and moments of conviviality.

The CID Team

• Karine Brou­ard
• Soph­ie Breard
• Vic­tor­ia Cirot
• Julie Drouen
• Théo Gold­berg