New twist this Thursday morning in the case of Marcel Pagnol’s “mother’s castle”. In mid-June, the town hall announced a change of public service delegate for the cultural site of the Château de la Buzine, managed until now by the association of Nicolas Pagnol. The town hall of Marseille has reversed its decision today. Not to leave the association of the grandson of the writer in office but to take over the direct management of the historic monument which notably houses a cinema and exhibitions.
A decision motivated by the appearance of an error in the procedure for awarding the public service delegation. “We realized that the competition publication in a specialized journal was missing. A minor error, which perhaps would not have resulted in a cancellation by the administrative court, but in order not to lend itself to criticism, we prefer to leave this DSP”, justified Joel Canicave, Deputy Mayor of Marseille delegate to finances.
A way for the municipal majority also to try to put out the fire that has been smoldering for two weeks, and to find a way out from above. The purpose of the maneuver is not to give the impression of giving in to the opposition headwind against this decision while avoiding a decision which would have given rise to a certain legal dispute and whose controversies would have placed “the new delegate in a situation difficult, ”continued the elected official of Printemps Marseille. The city has also announced the forthcoming holding of a management audit of the structure.
News that immediately made Nicolas Pagnol react: “Once again, it’s incomprehensible”, regretted with 20 minutes the grandson of the writer who judges that this is “a cultural expropriation”. And Nicolas Pagnol to attack: “They note a failure which allows them to cancel their DSP but we, we were ready to go to court having noted several serious shortcomings in the assessment of the files”.
Still, this story does not know its end point. This Marseille imbroglio has risen quite high at the state level. “Only the state can act as a mediator now,” evaded Nicolas Pagnol by asking him what would happen to his association. One thing is certain, he will not become an employee of the town hall to take care of the site: “Does Nicolas Pagnol want to be an employee of the town hall of Marseille? Certainly not. And this story has already gone way too far,” he adds. For the moment, the grandson of the totem of Provence writer is actively preparing the 50th anniversary of the death of his grandfather with, in particular, a great musical on Manon of the sources.