More than 48 hours after the publication of the article of World reporting on Laurent Wauquiez’s “very confidential” trip to Japan in March, the controversy has not subsided. The socialist elected representatives of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region sent a letter to the president on Monday, in which they asked him to provide invoices for activities “organized in the greatest secrecy”, “before the start” of his official mission in Asia. Activities that have generated costs likely to fall under his “personal expenses”.
They also denounce “the opacity which surrounds the activities of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Entreprises”, the economic agency which organized this trip. What do they blame Laurent Wauquiez? Was this trip “discreet”? 20 minutes make the point.
What was this trip?
It was an “economically oriented” trip, according to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes-Entreprises (ARAE) agency, which presents itself as the “armed arm” of the region in terms of economic development and industrial relocations. .
Requested by 20 minutes, the latter had not responded to our questions at the time of publishing this article. However, she clarified to AFP that the trip was intended to “promote industrial companies in the region” during the Smart Manufacturing Summit, which took place from March 13 to 15 in Tokyo. Twenty local businesses were part of the delegation, she mentioned last month on her Linkedin page.
The “collaboration with Aichi Prefecture [au sud-ouest de la capitale] began in 2022 with the signing of an agreement “between the two regions” under the leadership of Governor Hideaki Ohumra and Laurent Wauquiez,” she recalled. And added: “This new meeting concretizes the importance of economic development and in particular strategic sectors such as hydrogen, digital technology, the industry of the future.”
“There is nothing illogical in itself for a regional president to travel abroad to create links and promote his territory. But it is rather the details of the program that concern us and which require clarification,” underlines Johann Cesa, vice-president of the socialist group.
What are these details that have not escaped the opposition?
The dates of the stay, to begin with, questioned the elected socialists. Laurent Wauquiez left France on March 8 to land in Tokyo on the 9th. “He then took a flight to Sapporo [tout au nord de l’archipel] and went to the Kiroro ski resort for two days. He returned to Tokyo on Monday March 11 at 11 p.m., explains Johann Cesa to 20 minutes. We would like to know if these plane tickets, transfer to the resort, hotel nights, meals, ski passes and equipment rental were paid for by Laurent Wauquiez’s personal funds or by Auvergne- Rhône-Alpes Enterprises. If so, this poses a problem because this agency is 80% financed by public funds. » And to summarize: “This would amount to saying that his ski trip was paid for by taxpayers”.
For its part, the ARAE assured the World that meetings had been organized on site between local stakeholders and companies from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes specializing in the mountain sector, such as Club Med (which has a resort in Kiroro) or the Mountain cluster. But one of the participants testified anonymously to the national daily that he had never seen Laurent Wauquiez at these business meetings for two days.
The regional opposition is also questioning the organization of a dinner in the starred restaurant “Lugdunum Bouchon Lyonnais”, by chef Christophe Paucod. A meal to which 150 French and Japanese business leaders would have been invited. A “second dinner at the summit”, denounces Johann Cesa. “We can wonder if it was about promoting economic ties or if it served the electoral interests of Laurent Wauquiez for his political ambitions for 2027,” he questions. And to request “all the invoices for the holding of this dinner and the detailed list of participants. »
To his knowledge, he said, Laurent Wauquiez was the only elected official from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes present in Japan since the vice-president, Stéphanie Pernod, in charge of economic relations, was not on the trip.
Can we talk about a “discreet trip”?
“Laurent Wauquiez, who is nevertheless quick to communicate when it comes to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region or himself, remained very discreet this time,” accuses Johann Cesa. He has posted absolutely nothing on his Twitter account, unlike the president of Occitanie, who was also traveling in Japan in early March. » Nothing fundamentally reprehensible, even this silence can leave one doubtful.
Aderly, an agency for the economic development of the Lyon region, which also works for the city’s international influence, indicated Monday to 20 minutes having been “in no way associated or even informed of this mission, even though Japan is among the markets it has been prospecting for years”.
Should we then think that this trip was organized on the sly? “Regional elected officials were not informed of this. This trip did not appear in the list of “highlights” of the year 2024 presented to the committee,” assures Johann Cesa, supporting document. Conversely, the CES in La Vegas, the Salon de l’Agriculture and even the Mountain Planet, which took place in Grenoble on April 16 and 17, are mentioned.
“It is false to say that this trip had any confidential nature,” ARAE responded to AFP. “We had communicated multiple times on social networks, with businesses and with the general public,” she defends herself.
We went back through the agency’s X account (formerly Twitter) without finding any trace of an announcement or report on the event. Ditto on his Facebook page. On the other hand, the agency had published a communicated on its website in advance, inviting business leaders to apply for this trip and specifying that it would take place from March 11 to 15.
The proposed forecast program, accessible on the Internet, did not then indicate any travel to the Kikoro station. The ARAE has also posted publications, supporting photos, on its LinkedIn page, as we mention at the beginning of the article, to recall the objective and importance of this mission.