Toulouse: elected “municipalists” demand a public debate and a citizen vote on the LGV
Through Guillaume Laurens
Published on
“We regret the separation which has just happened”, assured Tuesday, November 23, 2021 Maxime Le Texier. The elected opposition, who is one of the figures at the origin of the Archipel Citoyen movement during the Municipal 2020, co-chairs the new group entitled Alternative municipalist citizen (AMC), alongsideAgathe Roby, activist of France Insoumise.
“Some people no longer wanted to work together”
” We are the first alternative to Jean-Luc Moudenc, ”insisted Maxime Le Texier, whose group will be the most represented in the opposition. Recall that Archipel Citoyen was shattered at the Toulouse city council, and is now divided into three camps: this group of “municipalists”, made up of seven elected officials, that of environmentalists (five elected), but also two non-registered elected officials. , among which Hélène Magdo, another elected of France Insoumise, who regretted Monday in an interview with Toulouse news “The permanent difficulty to decide” who reigned according to her at Archipel Citoyen.
AMC members do not deny the “Operating difficulties” of the late Citizen Archipelago, and the impossible “collective dynamic” that resulted from it. “Some people no longer wanted to work together”, observes Maxime Le Texier, insisting on the desire of his new group to defend “the 2020 Archipelago Citizen project”.
AMC to the City… and to the Metropolis
The Alternative municipalist citizen group (AMC) is the counterpart of the Alternative metropolitan citizen group (AMC) in Toulouse Métropole, made up of nine elected representatives: the seven Toulouse councilors sit there with two elected members of the Union (the mayor Marc Péré and his deputy Brigitte Bec). These two AMC groups are co-chaired by Agathe Roby and Maxime Le Texier at the City, and by Brigitte Bec and François Piquemal at the Metropolis.
“A renewed, credible and responsible opposition”
This municipal group, which was elected all newly elected, embodies “a renewed, credible and responsible opposition to Jean-Luc Moudenc”, replaces Agathe Roby, who recalled the mobilization of their elected officials for “the support of cultural actors” plagued by a reduction in subsidies and to “the patronage policy of the Toulouse town hall”, but also on other political battles, such as “the overly accountable management of schools”, and the establishment of a “socially fair ZFE project” . The group is also offended by the “Validism of the municipal council” against one of its elected officials, Odile Maurin. Deploring that “Jean-Luc Moudenc refuses reasonable accommodation to a disabled elected opposition member”, he calls for an end to “discrimination” against him.
The LGV, at the forefront of political battles
François Piquemal also returned on Tuesday to one of the great debates of the moment: the project of LGV Bordeaux-Toulouse, whose funding by communities is causing coughs in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and especially in Gironde. “In 2004, Mr. Douste-Blazy announced his arrival in 2015”, pointed out the elected representative, recalling that his group had decided to abstain from the Metropolis “during the vote of the financial participation of the (which will have to pay € 616 million over 40 years, editor’s note).
“An ecological and economic impact”
François Piquemal is worried about “Ecological impact” of the project, both on the “artificialization of soils” and “destruction of forests” front. But also of his ” economic impact, while our finances are already in the red ”. He is especially surprised that “The LGV weighs on the budget of the inhabitants”, since an amendment was voted in the National Assembly, instituting the creation of a new “LGV tax”. Remember that this new special equipment tax must make it possible to collect 24 million per year from 2023, and over 40 years, with enterprises of the territory, but also taxpayers subject to property tax and housing tax on second homes, and which are located less than 60 minutes from a station served by the future LGV.
Taxpayers will not participate in the financing. These are new difficulties that had not been mentioned at all during the last metropolitan council, it is incorrect on the part of Jean-Luc Moudenc not to have reported.
“Technocratic project” and “elitist vision”
François Piquemal believes that this money could be invested elsewhere. According to his calculations, “a minute saved would be worth 166 million euros, or the equivalent of 300 additional CHU beds”. “The LGV is typically a technocratic project, dated, which corresponds to an elitist and metropolitan vision of the subject, and which will benefit a few for save 20 minutes “, continued Maxime Le Texier, while the carriers of the GPSO maintain for their part that it will save about 1 hour between Paris and Toulouse.
The daily life of Toulousans is traffic jams and we will condemn them to stay there, because Jean-Luc Moudenc offers no alternative.
The AMC group calls for a public debate and a RIC
For their part, the elected representatives of the AMC group defend “alternatives to the LGV, such as complete modernization existing lines ”, and still invoke“ the creation of a Toulouse RER ”. And while the financing of the project is entering its home stretch (according to the state calendar, it must be completed at the end of 2021, to create the financing company by April 2022, editor’s note) François Piquemal and his group are also claiming and especially the holding of a “Public debate, which is open to residents in every town in the metropolis ”.
We need a contradictory debate, which will be completed by a citizen consultation, in the form of a RIC (Citizen’s Initiative Referendum, editor’s note), so that people vote in conscience for this project which will affect their future spending and their environment.
The elected “municipalists” see it as a great opportunity to “give back the power to act to the inhabitants”.
Has this article been useful to you? Note that you can follow Actu Toulouse in the Mon Actu space. In one click, after registration, you will find all the news of your favorite cities and brands.