The plenary session of the Departmental Council confirmed the good financial health of the community with the approval of the administrative account, the figures of which had already been announced at a press conference a few days ago and can be summarized as follows:
Increase in gross savings by +36 million, reduction of the debt by 17 million (stock as of December 31, 2018, 796 million), reduction in repayment duration (debt capacity from 6.1 in 2017 to 7 years in 2018), maintaining investment at the level of 164 million.
Communist and socialist-ecological groups voted against, denouncing the inadequacy of the economic and social policy in favor of the modest and needy classes of the population.
The second major (and politically delicate) point was the amendment concerning the OIN-Plaine du Var project, which brings together the State, the Region, the Department, and the Metropolis, and its temporal extension from 2011-2026 to 2019-2032.
For the record, this project is a major axis of Christian Estrosi’s economic development policy, who aims to make it a flagship of the territory (10,000 ha) and an example of a social ecosystem with housing, infrastructure, research activities, commercial and entrepreneurial activities, workplaces, and places of life.
Its detractors highlight the concreting of the territory and real estate speculation.
Given the rivalry between Christian Estrosi and Eric Ciotti (who remains the “dominus” of the departmental community), tensions had already arisen between the two communities in the recent past regarding this subject.
More recently, the attempt by the metropolises, of which Christian Estrosi was a major player, to absorb departmental competencies had further inflamed relations between the two communities and the individuals.
The opportunity was therefore ripe to put a few pebbles in the shoe of this advancing project – the first buildings are starting to emerge, the third tram line connecting the Saint-Isidore district will be operational by the end of the year, companies, families, and businesses are settling – but which has not yet realized its full potential.
We are in the classic half-full glass condition, which everyone can see as half full or empty!
The Department had not yet given its approval to this act 2 of the OIN (which foresees an addition of 874 thousand m2 of floor space to the 1,114 thousand m2 already decided), officially due to reservations between urbanization and environmental protection.
Contacts between the various parties, probably under the auspices of the State (Prefecture), smoothed positions, and so President Ginésy proposed “to vote on this report and this amendment while specifying that the Department’s representatives on the Board of Directors of the EPA must remain attentive to questions that are not answered today.”
The departmental president thus justified his request: “And as the first partner of local communities, this session leads me to represent a report withdrawn during our last Plenary concerning the signing of the partnership project contract 2019-2032 of the Eco vallée Plaine du Var National Interest Operation.”
A lively debate ensued, first animated by the ecologist Vinciguerra, who denounced “pure real estate speculation,” then by the communist Tujague, who would have preferred the creation of about fifteen organic farming businesses, and finally by the Gaudoise Vanessa Siegel, who highlighted the imbalance that will occur between the right and left banks of the Var, ending with Anne Satonnet, who expressed her doubts and questions.
To this volley of criticism, the “metropolitans” Moreau and Ségura replied, highlighting the economic and social benefits of the project.
But the voice that was awaited came last, it was that of Eric Ciotti.
His intervention, expressed with flair and a quasi-solemn tone, highlighted his very real talent: demolishing the foundations of the project without opposing it.
Let’s give him the floor:
I want the OIN to be a success. But the first assessment is mixed, and the economic objective is still a work in progress:
– Have we attracted major schools and companies?
– Is there a phenomenal impetus?
We mainly observe the continuation of commercial urbanism.
I want us to preserve the natural areas of the Plaine du Var. The objective of the OIN is also an ecological one.
Ultimately, we will have 20,000 homes in the Plaine du Var, 35% of which are social housing, while the initial OIN protocol provided for 4,300: this is a very risky bet! It’s a significant risk to social diversity, which is, for me, a major concern.
Between Lingostière and the Moulins police station, there will be 7,240 new homes, 2,531 of which are social. Careful not to create a new urban ghetto!
The final point is also instructive:
I do not want the Azur economy to be suffocated by taxation. Those who make unreasonable expenditures and announce hundred-million-euro projects every day in the press are preparing the taxes of tomorrow.
Following his intervention, the President of the Finance Commission did not participate in the vote to avoid giving his endorsement to the deliberation.
The opposition councilors voted against. Others (4 or 5 abstained or did not vote), some had left the chamber for … reasons of force majeure.
A piece of advice as a final comment: reading Antony’s speech after Caesar’s death (Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare).
