"Ecology is not the enemy of the economy, it is its best ally." The little sentence launched, barely elected, by Grégory Doucet, did not go unnoticed. A sign, no doubt, of the desire of the new environmental mayor of Lyon to reassure business leaders, struck by the defeat of Gérard Collomb. Mayor of Lyon from 2001 to 2017, and since 2018, it has symbolized for them the economic boom of the metropolis for twenty years. Across France, business circles welcome the "green wave" with caution.
"Their program, we only know it on the surface"
At the head of the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME) of the Rhône, François Turcas, wants to resolve misunderstandings without delay. "We must already get to know each other. Their mentality, their fund of thought, their program, we only know them on the surface. In any case, we will be there to defend the interests of SMIs and SMEs. When we have known the yellow vests, the strikes then the coronavirus, I can guarantee you that we have not given up. It is not now that we will do it… ", he affirms at the microphone of Europe 1.
"The economy is something that cannot be invented"
There was indeed the Grenoble laboratory, where the ecologist Eric Piolle had been elected in 2014, and re-stacked on Sunday for a second term. But what will happen to Lyon, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Besançon, or Tours? In Poitiers, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Claude Lafond, wants to be serene. The new environmental mayor, Léonore Moncond'huy, displays strong convictions, he says, but the principle of reality will eventually catch up. "The economy is something that cannot be invented. There are rules to respect. I believe that she is a thoughtful young woman ... and that she will not do anything", wants he believe.
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And after all, say the least reticent, in terms of image, and therefore of influence, the eco-label for a city is not necessarily a bad thing…