On this Wednesday morning, to give a long interview to 20 Minutes Marseilles, the president of the metropolis does not meet in her office, nestled in a skyscraper at the entrance to the city of Marseille, but in a brasserie in the Reformed district, in the city center. Her name ? The Danaides. However, his team assures him: it should not be seen as a message, a week before Emmanuel Macron’s new visit to Marseille to launch Act II of the Marseille plan in large, which should in particular draw the outlines of a future metropolitan RER. A visit that will take an eminently political turn against a backdrop of current tensions between the municipal team and Martine Vassal, she who does not rule out taking the chair of city councilor from Benoît Payan in 2026.
A year and a half after the launch of the Marseille plan on a large scale, why the arrival of the tramway has already been delayed in places, as revealed Marsactu ?
If you are talking about the second phase of the extension of the tramway to the northern phase towards Castellane, the problem is that on this route, which the city wanted to modify, there is a lack of height and width under two SNCF bridges to allow the tram to pass. I got the results from the SNCF. They tell us it can be done. They announce an approximate amount of 50 million additional and 18 months of work in addition, without counting the additional cost of the length. The route the city wants is longer, so it is more expensive! Especially since prices have increased with inflation.
Who will pay these 50 million?
That’s the right question, and I don’t have the answer. The SNCF told me: “It’s clear, we’re not going to pay for that, because we don’t need it. I’m going to talk to the President of the Republic about it next week, explaining to him that there is an additional cost on the North line. I don’t think he’s telling us the 50 million, because the visit is tomorrow! Afterwards, I won’t cry if he gives me more. If you need more money, you have to get it somewhere. The metropolis does not have a financial health that allows it to add I don’t know how many millions. But maybe the city of Marseille will help financially since it wanted a different route! We’ll see. All hopes are allowed. At the next GIP meeting [qui gère les projets de transports dans le cadre du plan Marseille en grand] in September, we will give the exact amounts.
Do you have any other expectations regarding this visit by Emmanuel Macron?
I am waiting to know how the President of the Republic sees the metropolitan RER, in particular on the financial part of the State. It’s his will and he’s right. We have a proposal to make at the level of the mesh, and he will have it next week. There is a study that normally comes out at the end of July on the mesh of the rail network, which the metropolis has co-financed with the region. I will have a card to give to Emmanuel Macron next week with the SNCF lines and the stations. When you look on a piece of paper, you say to yourself: “Good evening. It’s obvious ! “We have 11 stations in Marseille. This mesh, it exists! We agree on the principle of the metropolitan RER. It’s already that. But we always need money.
And this project comes up against the need to transform the Saint Charles station…
What I want is for him to put all his weight into being able to speed up the work on Saint-Charles station, which is the crux of the whole system. If the President of the Republic bangs his fist on the table with the operators to go faster, that can help us! 2035, Saint-Charles station, it’s a long way!
When the Marseille plan was announced on a large scale, the President of the Republic had called for the end of “local chicayas”…
(She cuts) Me, I’ve never made chicayas! I have passed the age.
Contact Printemps Marseille. You have to understand one thing. I don’t have a problem with people, with anyone. I got involved in politics for one thing. It is to transform my territory. So, after, behind, the problems of people, that does not concern me. I’m not in there. On the other hand, Printemps Marseille, indeed, does not have the same vision as the one we have.
They want to put the city in this state. Let them do it! But I still have the right to say that it does not suit me. Me, I’m sorry, I’m for more security, more quality housing. If we continue like this, we’re going straight into the wall!
After the big Marseille plan, you supported Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election, without joining his party. Where do you stand politically today?
I am on the right and I will die on the right. Today, I am for my territory. Of course, Emmanuel Macron helped us a lot, and that’s why I supported him.
It’s give-and-take ?
It’s not a question of give and take. He is the only President of the Republic who has looked at our cradle. But he never asked me to join him. Today, I am more LR. No, I was not expelled. The proof is that I still receive the LR documents. But we must never confuse the national and the local. When I entered politics in 2001, I came from civil society. I registered for the first time in 2002. Why? Because, finally, the right has become intelligent because it has brought together all the currents, from the most liberal to the hardest. Afterwards, it’s more what I found in the LRs.
Renaud Muselier says he joined Renaissance for the same reasons…
Today, I made a choice to support the President of the Republic and not Valérie Pécresse, for whom I nevertheless had great hope at the start. But the President of the Republic seemed to me at the time the most suitable person given the situation. We were coming out of the Covid. We had Putin at the gates of Europe. At one point it was a bit hot. Today, I am on my territory, not on a presidential election. Then we will have time. 2027 is a long way off.
2026 is a little closer…
It’s a little closer. But we must not put the cart before the horse. First, we will gather. Then we’ll see.
You don’t say no to a municipal candidacy? We have recently seen that you have gathered around you and Renaud Muselier a large part of the right and the center of Marseille…
I’m not saying yes. I’m not saying no. I say: “First we gather, then we’ll see.” »
With which party?
That, you like the parties. We all have our activists. I have activists who have followed me for years. That’s not the problem. First, we pose. If it’s to do as in 2020 and argue by saying: “Me, I want to be the chef…”, “Me, I want to be the chef…”… We won’t get out of it. The idea is to come together around a project, a vision. Before arguing for positions, let’s look at the project. Renaud and I have a common vision on many points. I do not agree with what Benoît Payan proposes, but I agree with what Renaud proposes. And this question of the gathering, I told the President of the Republic. In all the elections, if we don’t come together, with the right, the center, all those who think the same thing, we lose. When you’re on the same wavelength, you have to come together.
It is very macronist as a political vision…
I’m more of a vassalist (laughs).