Romain Cujives: “Toulouse is at a standstill like no other metropolis in France”
By Pascal PALLAS
Published on
He is one of the leaders of the left in Toulouse and he will undoubtedly be one of the possible contenders for the top of his camp’s list during the 2026 municipal elections. But for the moment, Romain Cujives only intend to dispense with his work as elected opposition member at a time when, according to him, the mayor of Toulouse and President of Toulouse Métropole Jean-Luc Moudenc “We met in difficulty collectively”.
The one who had been discreet since the last municipal elections and the defeat of Antoine Maurice (Citizen Archipelago)he had not become the campaign manager after having was removed from the head of the socialist list by the authorities of the PS, does not want to content itself with criticizing. It puts forward proposals on two issues: the social issue and the energy transition. Interview.
“Toulouse will continue its long downgrading”
News: After having played the leading roles on the left, in search of leadership in Toulouse, you are deliberately discreet in the exercise of your mandate as elected opposition member, since the outcome of the last municipal elections. Why ?
Romain Cujives: “It is an ethic of responsibility that I had already made a point of following, during the previous municipal elections lost by my camp in 2014. When you are waging an electoral battle and the people of Toulouse choose not to retain the candidacy which you belong to, I personally find it important to take the time for reflection, the time for introspection, the time for understanding. work in committee and in the municipal council, but I have shown that the time is not for grand declarations in the press. Today, introspection done, we can start again on sound bases and express ourselves again, in a clearer and stronger. It is a question of ringing the alarm bell because there, and this is my concern, Jean-Luc Moudenc is putting us together. Firstly because Toulouse is the stoppage like no other metropolis of France. We cannot make a project in transpor t because there is no longer an urban travel plan (PDU), we can no longer have an urban project because there is no longer a local urban plan (PLU) either. This is not seen anywhere else! Then, if the mayor’s non-action in ecological and social matters continues for another four years, Toulouse will have fallen so far behind that it will be difficult to come and fill it afterwards. If he does not understand the shift that is at work in terms of energy transition, as all the other cities have understood, Jean-Luc Moudenc is putting us in danger. And Toulouse will continue its long downgrading”.
What concerns you the most?
CR: “I have two major concerns committing myself to preserving the construction of a double shield for Toulouse residents. We have two issues: the social question and the ecological question.
The social question has finally become the question of the whole so-called “middle” class because if we do not act, we will no longer have a middle class in the city of Toulouse in 10 years. The explosion of land, the explosion of rents and the explosion of the cost of living mean that, every day, Toulouse residents are forced to leave their city. It is heartbreaking for those who experience it. It is a failure for those who are responsible. We must act with the definition of an emergency pack on the social issue”.
“Two thirds of integrated housing are for tax exemption”
Halting the explosion in land prices and fighting against the high cost of housing is an Arlesian in Toulouse, a city faced with very strong demand, like many other metropolises. What are you planning to do ?
CR: “We must stop the explosion of land and for that there are two major elements to be incapable. The first is known, it is the blocking of the amount of rents, because when we block the amount of rents, we block the question profitability and therefore speculation. Thus, we allow prices to be lowered. The second is that we must stop building a city for people who are exempt from tax”.
“Two-thirds of the housing that is integrated in Toulouse today is not for the needs of Toulouse residents, but for the need for tax exemption. So you are responding to the appetite of developers and people who want to do a good tax operation by building small studios, sometimes anywhere, but you do not meet the demand of households, who need a T3 or a T4 well located”.
Isn’t the high expectation of households for their accommodation also that of thermal insulation, at the end of the particularly hot summer that we have just experienced?
CR: “We are coming precisely to the ecological question which is eminently linked to the social question and which, for me, also requires the definition of a strong shield for Toulouse residents. We have started to see it for two years: many Toulouse residents are in the obligation to ask myself much more quickly than what we have chosen, the question of knowing if it is still livable to stay in your accommodation in August in Toulouse. two-speed city, where there would be those who can go to the sea and the mountains, and those who stay inside their poorly insulated apartment. renovation of thermal and energy sieves in Toulouse. We are not at the level and the “measurements” included in the budget orientation debate presented at the last city council demonstrated this. Everything must now be turned towards those who will no longer be able to live on cement when the climate of Toulouse will be that of Seville .
Toulouse must really take the measure of what is at work: nearly 80% of people live and will live in cities worldwide. The scale of the city is therefore the scale to act and transform”.
Jean-Luc Moudenc “does small and quietly”
Do you think that Jean-Luc Moudenc has not taken the measure of this climate issue?
CR: “We still have a mayor, Jean-Luc Moudenc, who is locked into the double logic of the 1980s. First of all: we do things small and quietly, we don’t really move, as if we didn’t have a major responsibility in front of history. And then, it is to believe that ecology is to paint cycle paths green. What is ecology? And I have been defending it for four years: it is a massive greening plan for Toulouse. We must no longer have a single street in Toulouse that is not tree-lined. We must create islands of freshness. No school should have its tarred courtyard! I had called for a local constitution sustainable, we call it what we want. All municipal projects must now use the carbon footprint grid. Today, the French, when they go to buy food at the supermarket, they are informed about the quality of the products and can know if these are good for their health or not, their figure or not. the same for each deliberation of the city so that the elected officials can decide in conscience if they do or if they do not do, and so that the people of Toulouse can check what we are doing”.
Beyond the rhythm set by their mayor, the question also remains to look at that of a majority of Toulousains faced with the environmental challenge, which is not requested to be more active. If you thought about the Capitol, what would be the method to support your constituents?
CR: “I said it, I think that the ecological matrix is the new way for the left to speak to the French and to convince them. But this matrix must be happy, that is to say that ecology must not be a punishment. Ecology is what, on the contrary, will allow our fellow citizens tomorrow to regain a quality of life that they have lost. We have to manage to show and, for the time being the account is not there, that ecology ensures that we live in better health, that our children live in a more pleasant environment. Ecology must encourage. Not contradict. Ecology, it is training. If we want to transform the world, we’re going to have to get as many people on board as possible. To do that, we mustn’t stigmatize, we mustn’t point fingers. But we have to support: when we tells people that you should not heat your home above 19°C, you can only do that if you don’t provide an insulation solution for this home”.
No personal ambition, at this stage
You have just unrolled the backbone of a political project. Four years from the municipal elections, are you already posing as a solution for the left?
CR: “No, it’s not about talking about personal ambition. Besides, when I had some in the past, I never hid them, because I don’t consider it something negative. So it is quite calmly that I say that today this is not the case. It is a question of evoking a collective ambition for Toulouse, that is to say what the we work with all of the municipal opposition and my contribution to this work. The political history of this city for 50 years shows that the left will have to be able to come together when the time comes and then be supported by a incarnation. But the time for this incarnation has not yet come”.
You talk about the gathering of the left, as a prerequisite and necessary for a victory in 2026. But can we still gather around the same project and on the same list of Insoumis and Social Democrats, in Toulouse?
CR: “Not only do I think it’s desirable from the first round precisely because Toulouse residents are very attached to the question of gathering, but I also think it’s possible, particularly on local issues. On a daily basis, when the various sensitivities are brought to the table in the context of our municipal work, we work together and we vote in 90% of cases together. So, if there are 90% of things that bring us together, that is more than enough to build an alternative. What will have to be done is to discuss a collective project sufficiently early. I would add that everyone today, from the rebels to the Socialist Party, indicates that it is possible and that it is there is no sticking point. So we have a major and collective responsibility to produce an alternative”.
Municipal 2026: “Everyone is legitimate on the left”
In view of the latest electoral results, can the Insoumis legitimately claim to be at the top of the list?
CR: “As we have seen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon was by far the person for whom the people of Toulouse voted during the Presidential election. But if we take the European elections before, it was Europe Écologie Les Verts who was the driving force. And if we talk about the departmental elections, it is the president of the departmental council and the Socialist Party who won the elections. So, no hegemony exists on the left, everyone is legitimate. What the people of Toulouse want , is that we are together to speak with one voice. We will have to find a method to achieve this. At this time, we do not have it.
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