Following the looting and damage to shops, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region is planning an initial budget of 5 million euros. A flat-rate allowance of 10,000 euros will be granted to each affected shop to support the resumption of business. Measures are also planned to assist municipalities in securing city centers.
The South Region is reactivating its Looted Shops Solidarity Fund, created in 2023. Following this announcement, François de Canson, new president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, specified the first measures intended for professionals who were victims of looting and damage.
An initial budget of 5 million euros is planned to support the affected shops. The scheme provides a flat-rate allowance of 10,000 euros per affected establishment. Deployed across the region’s six departments, the fund will be implemented in partnership with territorial authorities and chamber networks. In Nice, about fifteen shops were vandalized last weekend. Nearly 3,000 businesses suffered damage across France as a whole.
The South Region also wants to strengthen city center security
A crisis meeting was held on Monday, October 19 at the Regional Government Office. Serge Papin, Minister for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Commerce, Crafts, Tourism and Purchasing Power, was present alongside Jacques Witkowski, prefect of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Martine Vassal, president of the Bouches-du-Rhône department, and Nicolas Isnard, president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis.
Beyond financial aid to traders, the Region wishes to support municipalities facing public facility damage. As part of the “South Region, the Safe Region” plan, a resolution must be submitted for a vote by the regional assembly on October 23. The objective is in particular to help municipalities strengthen city center security, for example through video surveillance.
The authority also intends to work with chamber networks and economic actors to encourage customers to return to city centers. This approach should help support commercial activity as the end-of-year holidays approach.
François de Canson emphasizes the need to restore order to allow professionals to resume their activities: “Behind every looted shop, there are women and men who sometimes saw a lifetime’s work destroyed in a few hours. Our priority is to allow them to get back on their feet as quickly as possible. But nothing will be sustainable without the return to order and the guarantee that such violence will not happen again. The Region will play its full part, alongside shopkeepers and mayors, to protect our city centers, breathe new life into them and encourage local consumption.”
With this solidarity fund and the measures considered for municipalities, the South Region intends to support the recovery of shops that fell victim to looting and support the securing of public spaces.
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