They say they have learned the lessons of their “failure”, to have “taken height on what happened”. “There was a questioning on our part to better start the fight”. Five years from the next municipal and metropolitan elections in Lyon, Gérard Collomb and his allies are already in “battle order” to reconquer the town hall and eject the environmentalists from the Town Hall. Not a minute to lose.
The group “For Lyon / Invent the metropolis of tomorrow” has launched a Think tank called “Impulse” to develop a project with citizens, unveiled Thursday Yann Cucherat, unsuccessful candidate in the last elections. The former sports assistant of the city of Lyon intends to weigh in the debates to gain notoriety, even if it is not a question of formalizing for the moment any candidacy.
The ZFE as a flagship issue
“We do not want to be in the controversial debate but rather to deal with substantive issues,” he adds. Starting with the ZFE, a low emission zone. Deemed too restrictive, it is already provoking strong reactions when the metropolis of Lyon has just launched a public consultation on this subject. The opportunity for Collomb’s allies to occupy the territory. Fearing that the “participation is low”, they have just published a flyer to convince citizens of the need to express themselves. “We would like this subject, which was not part of the Greens’ program, to be submitted to a local referendum in the spring of 2022”, supports the centrist Christophe Geourjon.
“Who today can offer a coherent political vision for the next 5 and 15 years? “, Asks the president of the group in the metropolis Louis Pelaez, knocking out at the same time the Republicans, a” pure and hard right “adopting a” posture of arrogance and excess “. “They are very involved in political coups. We saw this recently when they threaten to leave the metropolis of Lyon when they know very well that they cannot, ”he adds.
Gérard Collomb as a coach
Considering that they are “in the best position” to win in 2026, the elected officials For Lyon / Inventing the metropolis of tomorrow intend to rely on “the experience of Gérard Collomb”. The former mayor of Lyon has not said his last word. Far from there. But, he nevertheless assures that he will confine himself to the role of “relay broker”, of “guide”. The half-shadow man, in a way. “I try to form teams with the capacity to win the next time around. And I have a background, ”he replies. A network, too. “I don’t need to activate it too much. Industrialists, real estate developers, the federation of public buildings are already asking me to speak, he smiles. They’re pretty scared of what’s going on. And we are not talking about citizens. Come to the street for a walk with me, you will hear their remarks. This is the best poll there is. “