Strasbourg (AFP)

Pia Imbs, the unlabeled mayor of the small town of Holtzheim, was elected Wednesday to the presidency of the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, thanks in particular to the support of the new ecological mayor of the Alsatian capital Jeanne Barseghian.

Mrs Imbs, 60, was elected on the first ballot to head the Eurometropolis, which brings together 33 municipalities and represents almost half a million inhabitants: she gathered 59 votes out of 95 voters, against 36 at her sole opponent, Catherine Graef-Eckert (DVD), the mayor of Lingolsheim.

Jeanne Barseghian was then elected deputy president of the Eurometropolis, and Danielle Dambach, environmental mayor of Schiltigheim, second vice-president.

Together, the three women announced last week that they would join forces to carry the idea of ​​collegial governance with a roadmap focused on the climate challenge.

Ms. Imbs, lecturer specializing in management and human resources, welcomed her election with "a lot of pride, determination, humility and emotion".

She takes over from the socialist Robert Herrmann at the head of the Eurometropolis, which was previously called Strasbourg Urban Community (CUS).

"For the first time in the history of our intermunicipal co-operation, it is a mayor of a second-crown municipality who has taken over the presidency," she said.

Pia Imbs was also delighted that "for the first time (...) the question of the presidency was not decided on a Strasbourg table before the second round of the municipal elections".

Regarding the collegial direction that she wishes to embody with Jeanne Barseghian and Danielle Dambach, Pia Imbs estimated that "the mayor of Strasbourg, city of 480,000 inhabitants, the mayor of Schiltigheim, 32,000 inhabitants, and the mayor of Holtzheim, 3,600 inhabitants, carry together the same look at our territory, the challenges to be met, the meaning of our projects. "

"Together we will demonstrate that the ecological transition is compatible with economic development," she added.

"We must enter together into an era that will make climate emergency the central matrix of our public policies in the Eurometropolis," said Ms Imbs.

© 2020 AFP