This one does not go unnoticed. If there have already been other resignations for two years and three months among the Bordeaux majority, that of Bernard Blanc, deputy for resilient urban planning, one of the heavyweights of Pierre Hurmic’s team (EELV), has made react part of the opposition. “We think he no longer believes in it and is leaving,” sums up Fabien Robert (Modem).
His departure, effective at the end of October, will be recorded in the municipal council in November. The deputy for city policy, Véronique Serrale, had already announced that she would leave her post this summer to start a new life in Strasbourg.
“It is not trivial what is happening”
“It had been decided that Bernard Blanc would help us lay the foundations for a resilient urban planning policy,” explained Pierre Hurmic at the start of the municipal council meeting on Tuesday. “He has other life projects and wants to ease off, it’s a very heavy burden,” he adds. We are all capable of hearing it without seeing any political overtones. »
But the opposition group Bordeaux Ensemble (LR-Modem) does not hear it that way. “It is indicative of a lack of political coherence and procrastination, which lead people to withdraw,” said Nicolas Florian (LR). Fabien Robert points to a latency period before and after the departure of an assistant and wonders about “the continuity of public service”.
“It’s not trivial what is happening, despite what you want to believe,” he said in the municipal council. Three changes of delegations, three communication directors leaving and four resignations… For him, this creates a “feeling of chaos”. “There are people who don’t agree with each other, that’s life, comments Nicolas Florian. Except that when it becomes a factor of instability in municipal politics, it adds incapacity to incapacity”.
This Tuesday in council, the main interested party, Bernard Blanc, took the floor to cut short these questions: “I want to take care of my wife, after two years, he explained. I was very proud to be elected with Pierre. When you come from civil society, you know that you are not essential and I have no intention of making a career”. His speech was greeted with much applause.
“We don’t have political professionals”
“We will keep the solid foundations of its policy such as the frugal Bordeaux building, the solidarity leases: all of this had to be negotiated with the developers, commented the mayor of Bordeaux. These policies are now on track. We are on the right trajectory of resilient urbanism. »
The majority insisted on the fact that it does not have in its ranks employees of political parties. “One of our specificities is that we do not have political professionals, we have people who have private and professional lives, explains the mayor of Bordeaux. And at some point, they choose to return to their professional life because they don’t live from politics. Those for whom this is the case may be disconcerted”. On the previous term, the mayor of Bordeaux recalled that there had been seven resignations, including that of the first deputy and that of the mayor.
In this tense context, it is Stéphane Pfeiffer, already deputy in charge of housing, who will take over from Bernard Blanc and will have the difficult task of reporting on the urban policy of the ecological majority.