Yesterday, the Board of Directors of the Public Establishment for the Development of the Plaine du Var Project of National Interest (OIN) approved the principle of a consultation process for the development of a territorial project.
The foundational studies for the Eco-Valley (urban strategy definition study and international positioning study) have provided a certain diagnosis and proposals for the future of the valley.
The elected representatives from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, within the Board of Directors, have repeatedly requested that these studies be shared in a consultation process with the valley’s mayors, residents, associations, and representative organizations.
The EPA is responding with an initial step.
“We can only welcome this response; it is an urgent first step toward transparency and the appropriation of their territory by the project’s stakeholders,” declared the regional representatives. The process needs to be detailed by the EPA, and the regional representatives will be particularly attentive. It is currently envisaged as a two-phase consultation first involving institutional actors and later the residents and users of the Plaine du Var.
The process needs to be detailed by the EPA, and the regional representatives will be particularly attentive. It is currently envisaged as a two-phase consultation first involving institutional actors and later the residents and users of the Plaine du Var.
The regional representatives question the relatively ambitious implementation schedule that results in the validation of the territorial project by December 2011. They request that this consultation be a long-term process. As the Director General of the EPA, Mr. Pons de Vincent, himself states, the OIN project is a long-term endeavor and requires repeated dialogue with the territory’s stakeholders. Agreed! For now, the EPA’s proposal follows a closed schedule.
“Why not change the governance of the Board of Directors?” the representatives ask, “and open the Board to the mayors of the concerned municipalities, associations, and representative organizations of civil society?”
Patrick ALLEMAND
First Vice-President of the PACA Region
Vice-President delegated to International Relations, Europe, and Euro-Region
Annabelle JAEGER
Regional Councilor delegated to Biodiversity
