Stéphane Burgatt, edited by Manon Fossat 09:18, August 31, 2021

The Head of State will visit the Phocaean city from Wednesday to Friday in the company of several ministers, to announce a major "Marseille plan", interministerial, relating in particular to issues of security, urban renewal, housing and education, including the renovation of schools.

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An investment and urban renewal plan must be announced, on the occasion of the visit of the President of the Republic to the second largest city in France from Wednesday to Friday.

If the precise envelope intended for this plan has not yet been revealed, it could well amount to billions of euros.

Investments in development, town planning, education and transport to open up certain neighborhoods should in particular be put in place in Marseille.

But it is on the security aspect that Emmanuel Macron is the most awaited.

Expected on the security component 

For Salim Grabsi, president of the union of working-class districts of Marseille, this is the ultimate chance to "bring back a section of the population from the northern districts towards a positive construction" of society.

"There is nothing worse than despair and now we are at a crossroads. This is our last attempt," he said.

This trip should therefore not be a missed appointment.

On the political side, we also feel a lot of hope but also a lot of caution.

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This is the case of Samia Ghali, deputy mayor of the city.

"It doesn't matter how much money will be allocated to Marseille, that's not what really interests me. Because you can put money but if behind the files does not follow because the city is not in capacity to present them, then you have nothing ", she judged.

According to her, Marseille has indeed been under-endowed in the past, and this for many years.

"It is not the fault of the State. Today the city has worked to make proposals to the government. The financial situation does not allow these projects to be completed, so it is the State which must come to abound. And for once I hope that Marseille will be served before the others ", called Samia Ghali. 

200 schools to renovate

The same goes for Lionel Royer-Perreaut, the mayor of the 5th arrondissement, who intends to ensure that this is not yet another plan without real effects in the long term. "We have already had governments which announced billions of euros and in the end very little money went into the basket," he recalled. And this expectation in terms of security is also felt on the side of the police, as the representative of the Alliance union Rudy Manna explains. "If today the President of the Republic goes down to Marseille and announces nothing on the subject of security, we will have really missed something. Because for the past two weeks we have only been talking about the city in connection with insecurity ", he regretted.

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However, even if the security adviser to the Head of State is traveling, Emmanuel Macron's announcements will also concern three other themes: education first, the initial reason for making contact between the mayor of Marseille and the President. Because 200 schools must be renovated for a budget of one billion euros according to the figure that has been circulating for several months. The question of urban renewal and unworthy housing, the extent of which was really explored after the tragedy in the rue d'Aubagne, is also on the agenda. Finally, the transport issue, which is very insufficient in Marseille, will be addressed. There are indeed two metro lines and three tram lines in a city twice the size of intramural Paris.