INTERVIEW
The 102nd Congress of Mayors, organized by the president of the Association of Mayors of France François Baroin, opens Monday in Paris. Invited from Europe 1, the mayor of Meaux, Jean-François Copé, defended the work done by local elected officials, while relations with the presidency were sometimes heated.
"What I regret is that the state does not let more mayors do what they have to do," said Jean-Francois Copé at the microphone of David Doukhan. The mayor of Meaux explains that there is a "natural tendency of successive governments to 'pay' themselves on the communes". He elaborates: "The state does not save money but asks the municipalities to do it when we manage better, as mayors, than the government does.The state asks to apply standards but It does not apply to itself, the state decides instead of mayors and they have to find solutions on a daily basis in many areas. "
Macron is "an exception of the 5th Republic"
The launch of the congress will be officially given by Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday. Jean-Francois Cope believes that the President of the Republic "has matured" but does not miss the opportunity to address a small tackle, while the current head of state is an "exception in the history of the 5th Republic". "He was never elected anywhere, he has never had any experience of mayor," said the former president of the UMP. Jacques Chirac told me that the political apprenticeship of the profession in the noble sense of the term was done by being mayor. I think he was absolutely right, "smiled the mayor of Meaux.