The General Councillor and President of the Departmental Association of Communist and Republican Elected Officials raises the question of the development of the National Interest Operation of the Var plain by strongly criticizing its current content.
The “citizen workshops” set up by the Public Development Establishment of the Var plain increasingly appear as a parody of consultation, supposedly providing a “citizen” endorsement to an operation whose current developments suggest that the green color most associated with it would be that of dollars since the dominant echo in the valley is more that of cash registers than of sustainable development.
In the face of the policy of faits accomplis and prevailing strategies, the outcry from the associations and unions associated within the Inter-Collegial Working Group (GTIC) condemning a “deception” and refusing to lend any endorsement to the ongoing process is entirely legitimate.
How can we talk about consultation in meetings where the agenda is locked, when no account is taken of the observations made, especially by the GTIC? In public meetings where the public discovers the implementation of projects without having the time or an overview that allows them to grasp the stakes? What is the reality of the involvement of local communities and representatives in the drafting of the overall project, which has nevertheless been agreed upon as one of the foundations of sustainable development?
Why continue to refuse the Grand Public Debate that we are demanding, along with the associative and union movement, on the implementation of the National Interest Operation?
In the founding principles of sustainable development, the imperative necessity of respecting the environment, the long-term preservation of natural and cultural resources, and the socially and economically acceptable and equitable nature of the projects implemented are notably affirmed.
We are indeed far from this, as we are from “the capacity of stakeholders to rationalize the management of spaces with a view to preserving environmental quality” highlighted in the prefiguration report of the N.I.O. as an essential guarantee of success. How can we not be surprised in this regard at the silence observed by the Prefect, supposed to steer the operation?
Not to mention the Territorial Development Directive which emphasized, for the Saint-Isidore sector, the “necessary balance between the agricultural vocation of the soils and the needs related to the growth of the agglomeration,” specifying notably that agricultural areas “are intended to have their agricultural function perpetuated…” A precious peri-urban agriculture but which remains the great absentee from the projects implemented so far.
In the documents presented to call for participation in these “workshops,” a multitude of projects, some ongoing, others upcoming, and still others marked as priorities, are stacked on top of each other on a map of the Var plain:
Where is the inventory of the zone’s resources and the load capacity of the concerned sites? Where is the measurement of the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the planned facilities detailed?
How, under these conditions, can we “weigh in on decisions” as mentioned in these documents?
More than ever, the demand for a Grand Public Debate under the control of the National Commission is necessary so that the development choices are primarily oriented towards the prosperity and well-being of local populations, as recommended by all the founding documents of “sustainable development.”
Jacques VICTOR, General Councillor, President of the Departmental Association of Communist and Republican Elected Officials
