France: expensive dinners organized by Laurent Wauquiez, environmentalists take legal action
The president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, is the target of a Mediapart investigation into his expensive dinners given at taxpayer expense.
© THOMAS COEX/AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Laurent Wauquiez, the boss of the Republicans of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, is pinned by the Mediapart site for having organized a dinner at the expense of the taxpayer.
The sum is substantial: 100,000 euros paid at the beginning of the summer by the region.
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The environmental group of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the main opposition group in the region, is demanding accountability from the president Les Républicains (LR) of the region Laurent Wauquiez and will take legal action after the publication of
the Mediapart investigation.
published this Thursday, October 13.
The main opposition group in the region, chaired by Fabienne Grébert, announced in a press release on Friday October 14 that it had alerted the Regional Chamber of Accounts and prepared a report to "
the competent prosecutor
" so that "
any suspicion of embezzlement of public funds and illegal taking of interest
".
Questioned by AFP, the environmental group specifies that this report will be transmitted in the next few hours to the Lyon prosecutor or to the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF).
More than 1,000 euros per guest
On the merits of the case, it is an evening organized for a hundred guests invited to the Château de la Chaize, in Beaujolais.
Local personalities, business leaders or even sportsmen were around the table.
An event that makes the region cringe.
“
Our objective was to create synergy between actors who are not used to meeting each other
”.
This is how the entourage of Laurent Wauquiez justifies the organization of this dinner.
But it is obviously the bill paid by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that makes the opposition jump.
About 1,100 euros per guest, according to information from Mediapart, confirmed by the region.
The environmental mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle, denounces a drift: “
It shows that Laurent Wauquiez is in another world.
He is actually ready to spend more than 1,000 euros per guest for his personal glory since here, we are really in pure and hard networking.
»
"
Dinner of the summits
"
A relative of Laurent Wauquiez explains that the boss of the region assumes and that another meal of this type called "
dinner of the summits
" had already taken place last March.
It was at the Paul Bocuse Institute, located in the suburbs of Lyon.
It's indecent for Andréa Kotarac, president of the Rassemblement national de la Région.
"
At a time when train tickets are increased, at a time when the budget for culture is decreasing, etc., at a time when 12 million French people are unable to keep warm, the so-called president of the Best managed region in France, having fun with taxpayers' money, that's it!
»
Last spring, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region effectively cut 4 million euros in subsidies to the world of culture.
►Also read: France: kick-off of the battle for the presidency of the Les Républicains party
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Laurent Wauquiez