Europe 1 with AFP 6:21 p.m., March 15, 2022

On Tuesday, the main associations of elected officials, dominated by the opposition, auditioned on the subject of decentralization all the presidential candidates with the exception of Eric Zemmour and Emmanuel Macron, the latter having maintained strained relations with communities throughout the five-year term.

The main associations of elected officials, dominated by the opposition, audition Tuesday on the theme of decentralization all the presidential candidates with the exception of Eric Zemmour and Emmanuel Macron who maintained tense relations with the communities while throughout the five-year term.

"Thank you to the candidates who will be at this desk and who in this show their respect not only for local democracy, but also for democracy in general in our country", said in opening the president LR of the influential Association of mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard, who organizes these hearings with Regions of France and the Assembly of the departments of France (AdF), all three grouped under the banner of "United Territories".

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The absence of Emmanuel Macron much criticized

"The candidates who decided to come were right, which means that the others were wrong", declared the mayor of Cannes, thus tackling the absentees Emmanuel Macron and Eric Zemmour.

The latter "cancelled his participation on Monday evening", according to the organizers.

"We don't want to be little soldiers with our finger on the seam of the pants. It's not quite my temperament", assured, for her part, the PS president of Regions of France, Carole Delga, convinced that " the bottom structures the top".

The UDI president of the AdF François Sauvadet directly challenged the absent Emmanuel Macron: "The President of the Republic is in Maine-et-Loire this afternoon. I would have liked him to be among us to respond to our questions like the others", he said, assuring that France "more than ever needs a democratic debate".

The most virulent charge against the absence of Emmanuel Macron was brought by the PS vice-president of the AMF André Laignel who described the five-year term as "disastrous" for the communities.

"It is still curious that the one who turned to the mayors (during the "yellow vests" crisis) did not deign today to come before the mayors both to report on this five-year term and the way he considered local democracy or not", he lamented.

"No definitely, it's not very republican behavior," added the mayor of Issoudun (Indre).

A new step demanded by local elected officials

Forty years after the Defferre laws on decentralization, the ten other candidates will be questioned about a new stage demanded by local elected officials, who have taken several initiatives in recent months to improve relations between the State and the communities, after the health crisis. whose management has often opposed the executive to elected officials on the ground.

The AdF published 102 proposals in December "to restore confidence to the French", and Regions of France published a "white paper" on decentralization a week ago, the objective of which is to challenge the contenders for Elysée on 64 proposals to organize "General States of local freedoms" from the summer which would then lead to a constitutional reform.