Paris (AFP)

Jean Castex and the regional presidents put on stage Monday their "confidence" regained to "co-pilot" the recovery plan, even if the management of the health crisis "parasitizes" their relationship since last week.

The signing in Matignon of an agreement to "co-pilot" the recovery plan of 100 billion over two years "seals the agreement between the regions and the State to join forces in the face of the crisis which is there, which is ahead of us ", rejoiced the Prime Minister.

A "historic" meeting for the president of Regions of France, Renaud Muselier, as well as for Matignon who insists on the "renewal of the dialogue".

"It is completely symbolic and important that we strive to territorialize as much as possible the interventions of this plan so that it is done as close as possible to people, companies and territories", assured Jean Castex.

"It's a very impressive change of method", greeted the president of the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur region, who does not hide that his relations with Mr. Castex are better than with his predecessor Edouard Philippe.

"There is a kind of contract of confidence in the process," he said.

If "the contract of confidence" is acquired to face the economic crisis between the State and the regions, it is much less obvious for the management of the health crisis, since the announcements of the government last week on the closure of bars, strongly deplored by the communities for the lack of consultation.

"There is interference between the two operations," admitted Mr. Muselier on leaving Matignon, acknowledging that the presidents had asked "that what happened in Marseille is not repeated" during the next government announcements. .

The president of Ile-de-France, Valérie Pécresse, feared that the same scenario would happen again.

"I fear especially that the government acts alone without associating us because in the end it always falls on us", she affirmed after the meeting.

"We are the safety net which, before being activated, needs to be informed", she insisted, demanding that the regions be "associated with the management of the health crisis", like that of economic crisis.

- A "proactive" plan -

The agreement signed between Mr. Castex and the presidents of the regions takes up the broad lines of the method agreement he had already concluded in July with Mr. Muselier.

"He is now turned towards the stimulus plan in a very proactive manner," assured the entourage of the head of government.

With the exception of the president of the Corsican executive council, Gilles Simeoni, who was unable to travel "for logistical reasons", the twelve other region presidents made the trip to sign this text.

"In each region, by the end of the year, there will be the signing of a revival agreement", explained the Prime Minister's office, specifying that the departments which so wish can also sign texts of the same. type.

In this "partnership agreement", the State and the regions each commit to investing an additional 5 billion euros as part of the recovery plan, ie 10 billion more for a total of 40, as agreed in July.

This will be carried out within the framework of the 2021-2027 State-Region plan contracts, whose strong axes will revolve around ecological transition, research, social cohesion, health, vocational training or the modernization of transport infrastructure. .

"In the short term, to prime the pump, it is planned from the end of 2020 to support regional investments that are part of the recovery plan to the tune of 600 million euros", explained Matignon.

Another sign of appeasement, the total compensation for the reduction in production taxes, decided by the executive to stimulate the competitiveness of companies.

This cut of 20 billion euros comes directly to the regions, which received 7 to 10 billion, in particular via the contribution on added value (CVAE).

© 2020 AFP