The president (LR) of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes led, Thursday, the plenary assembly of the regional council being alone in the hemicycle. The opposition, whose administrative court has rejected an appeal in summary proceedings, denounces “a avoidance maneuver”.
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Does videoconference risk hindering democratic debate? Confronted with a controversy over his expensive dinners, Laurent Wauquiez, president (Les Républicains, LR) of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, decided to impose this communication mode on all regional advisers for their plenary assembly, scheduled for Thursday 20 and Friday October 21. Official reason: the difficulty of travel because of the shortage of fuel.
But the opposition elected officials denounced a “democratic impediment”. For them, this decision aims to silence the annoying questions, after The revelations of Mediapart on the organization of” summary dinners “. These are meetings of personalities in a prestigious framework, funded by the community, with a single elected present: the president of the region. The cost of the evening of June 23, 2022, in a Beaujolais castle, has thus rose to 100,000 euros; This represented around 1,000 euros per guest, taking into account the gastronomic menu and logistics costs, according to Mediapart. The regional executive has planned three to four dinners of this type in the year.
“A regional budget is not a personal kitty. We understand that these dinners are above all intended to prepare for Mr. Wauquiez’s candidacy for the 2027 presidential election,” reacted Najat Vallaud Belkacem. The president of the socialist group in the region wanted to “ask for explanations during the public plenary assembly”. By learning on Monday, at the Conference of Presidents, that the Regional Council was going to meet in videoconference, it has insurgent the process. “It is very serious. Democracy is fragile. We cannot accommodate this diversion of debates. Visioconferencing is not planned to arrange an embarrassed official. Small renunciations in small renunciations, we do not do a service to our country, “confides the world the former Minister of National Education. 2> The administrative court rejects the request of the opposition
Socialist elected officials seized the administrative court in summary proceedings, to challenge the use of videoconferencing in such a context. “[It] was provided for by the law of February 21, 2022, relating to differentiation, decentralization, deconcentration, called” 3DS “, in order to authorize a means of communication to maintain the democratic debate in the event of a crisis. The imposing to obviously avoid a sensitive subject, the spirit of the law is completely misguided, “said their lawyer Sylvain Cormier.
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