His photo in the subway was premonitory. Former Prime Minister Jean Castex, appointed this summer chairman of the board of directors of the Agency for financing transport infrastructure in France (Afit France), should take the helm of the RATP, we learned on Tuesday from corroborating sources, confirming information from the Mobileletter website.
“The HATVP (High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, Editor’s note) gave a favorable opinion this evening,” added a source familiar with the matter, who specified that the former tenant of Matignon will now “have to be heard by the parliamentary committees then the Council of Ministers “.
The Paris transport authority has lost its CEO Catherine Guillouard, who resigned after five years in office, and its number two, Philippe Martin, who retired on September 30.
Green light from Macron
According to “Molettetre”, Castex, who was initially eyeing the SNCF currently headed by Jean-Pierre Farandou, would have met “this weekend” President Emmanuel Macron who would have given the green light.
“As Prime Minister, Jean Castex rendered several arbitrations relating to the institutional context in which the RATP will evolve (…) or on the confirmation of the monopoly of the GPSR (the RATP’s in-house security service) on the Grand Paris lines Express”, notes the specialized publication.
“In addition to this heavy mortgage relating to the presumption of conflict of interest, the putting into orbit of Jean Castex would result from a practice derogating from the recruitment process put in place by the APE (Agence des participations de l’Etat) for a months, namely the hearing by Jouve & Associés of the many candidates”, she adds.
No experience
A trade union source takes a dim view of this arrival of “someone who knows nothing about transport” despite a declared interest and “considers that there is no difference between a driver of Paris bus and the Clermont-Ferrand bus”.
Aged 57, the former head of government from July 3, 2020 to May 16, 2022 is a graduate of the ENA. Originally from Gers, he was also mayor of Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales).
The RATP, which manages 330 lines in Ile-de-France and transports more than three million passengers a day via its bus network, is currently experiencing all the trouble in the world to maintain a full service, against a backdrop of absenteeism, difficulties recruitment or opening up to competition.