The standoff is underway… Two days after making headlines by announcing his withdrawal from the “zero net artificialization” system, the president (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez reconfirmed this desire with the First Minister, Elisabeth Borne in a letter consulted this Tuesday, October 3 by AFP. He calls for “concrete proposals” and claims to “suspend” work in his region.
In this letter sent Monday to the head of government, Laurent Wauquiez “confirms” that his region “suspends” the modification of its “development plan”. However, this procedure is supposed to achieve the objective of “zero net artificialization” (ZAN), enshrined in law for two years.
A “ruralicide” reform
Already on Saturday, the president of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes had announced that he was “withdrawing from the process” aimed at stopping the concreteization of soils by 2050, criticizing a “ruralicidal” reform. Comments immediately described as “deeply populist” by the Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Sarah El Hairy (Modem), with government spokesperson Olivier Véran even mentioning possible “sanctions”.
The region had, however, been “put in working order” since the summer of 2022, recalls Laurent Wauquiez in his missive, detailing the steps taken until the spring. But the new law adopted in July “came to modify the rules of the game” he explains to justify “no longer engaging (his) region in this process”. Judging that “the conditions (…) are no longer met” to complete the procedure, he said he was waiting for “concrete proposals which reflect an evolution of the government’s position”, in particular on certain quotas of building zones which remain to be specified .
“No one ever said it was easy”
According to him, this clarification should be done “within the framework” of the “regional COPs”, these conferences on the ecological transition formally launched last week by Elisabeth Borne, who wanted to “achieve a shared action plan” by summer 2024. The opportunity to “reset all (the) legislative system” of the ZAN, insists Laurent Wauquiez, warning the Prime Minister against the absence of a “real consultation of elected officials” which “can only lead (it) to an impasse.”
Local authorities, however, assure that this dialogue exists on the ZAN. “It has to be worked on, it has to be built, and that’s what we are currently doing with the communities,” declared the prefect of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Fabienne Buccio, to AFP on Tuesday on the sidelines of a conference on water and climate change. “No one ever said it was something easy” but “there is a deadline to do it” and “we know very well that it will require courage and intelligent adaptation,” he said. she adds.