Laurent Wauquiez, president of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region.

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JP Clatot / AFP

  • After the investigation of Mediapart on the subsidies allocated by the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region to the municipalities of its territory, the national financial prosecutor was seized.

  • The Socialist Group of the Regional Council believes that Laurent Wauquiez, President LR, has favored the right-wing municipalities to the detriment of the left-wing town halls.

  • The latter replied by entering the national financial prosecutor's office to denounce the management of his predecessor, the socialist Jean-Jack Queyranne.

Has the socialist town hall of Villeurbanne been sacked by Laurent Wauquiez?

Was it deprived of larger regional allocations just because it was headed by a left-wing mayor?

Like others besides?

This is what the

Mediapart

survey

, published Wednesday and devoted to the subsidies allocated by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region to the municipalities in its territory,

suggests

.

The day after its revelations, the socialist group in the region announced Thursday to seize the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) on the allocation of subsidies that it considers "opaque".

Strong disparities between departments

The survey, conducted by Mediapart, highlights strong disparities between the different departments.

Haute-Loire, stronghold of Laurent Wauquiez, LR president of the region, was allocated 125.60 euros per inhabitant while the Rhône had to be content with an envelope equivalent to 10.90 euros per inhabitant.

But it also highlights what could be compared to a difference in treatment between cities, led by mayors on the right and those managed by the left.

Between 2017 and 2019, the former received 24.50 euros per inhabitant, the latter, 13.30 euros on average.

“We have also shown that the agglomeration of Puy-en-Velay (a city headed by Laurent Wauquiez from 2008 to 2016) has obtained nearly 120 million euros in subsidies and public investment from the Region since 2016. That is three four times more than territories of the same stratum, ”explains Jean-François Debat, president of the socialist group at the regional council.

And to emphasize again: “When an inhabitant of Haute-Loire receives on average 125 euros, an inhabitant of Allier receives only 12 euros.

For what reasons ?

So that Laurent Wauquiez ensures his re-election ”.

"We don't necessarily intend to water Villeurbanne"

To support the case of Villeurbanne, Mediapart relies on sound recordings dating from 2016. A conversation in which Laurent Wauquiez comments on the results of the regional elections, which took place four months earlier and focuses on the case of Villeurbanne, where his list suffered a real rout in the face of that of the socialist Jean-Jack Queyranne.

“We do not necessarily intend to water Villeurbanne, which was watered in a delirious way under the mandate of Queyranne.

So we will have to find a good working method there, ”explained the new region president to his teams.

In reaction, Cédric Van Styvandael, the mayor of Villeurbanne seized the prefect of the Region to request the regional chamber of accounts.

"The objective is to have an objective assessment of possible disparities in the allocation of public funds in the Region not justified by realities on the ground," he explains.

Laurent Wauquiez strikes back

"If this recording reflects the establishment of an arbitrary allocation system, based solely on the political color of the communities and ignoring the real needs of the populations concerned, these instructions from the President of the Region are serious and unacceptable", he believes, adding to have asked his teams to collect all the information "to confirm this unfavorable treatment for Villeurbanne on the previous term".

According to the elected official, it appears that the city of Villeurbanne received, between 2011 and 2015, 2.3 million euros in subsidies from the Region.

Against 823,000 euros from 2016 to 2020.

In a statement sent to AFP, Laurent Wauquiez contested "with the greatest firmness the false and untruthful facts advanced by Jean-François Debat and the political instrumentalization he makes of justice in times of campaign" before the regional of June.

He announced to file “complaint for defamation and denunciation of false facts” and to also seize the financial prosecutor and the regional Chamber of accounts “on the policy carried out at the time by the executive of Jean-Jack Queyranne”, socialist president of the Rhône-Alpes region between 2004 and 2015.

Lyon

Regional 2021 in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: The opposition criticizes the communication expenses of Laurent Wauquiez, six months before the poll

Politics

The salary of a relative of Laurent Wauquiez pinned, the national financial prosecutor seized

  • Lyon

  • Villeurbanne

  • Laurent Wauquiez

  • PS

  • The Republicans (France)

  • Silver

  • Subsidies