Government spokesperson Olivier Véran hopes that there will be “sanctions” against Laurent Wauquiez (LR) if the latter withdraws, as he announced, his Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region from “zero net artificialization” ( ZAN), a system which aims to stop the concreteization of soils by 2050.
“If he does not respect the law, I hope that there will indeed be sanctions,” the minister declared on BFMTV on Sunday. While Laurent Wauquiez took a first step towards his candidacy for the Elysée on Sunday, Olivier Véran mocked a man who “perhaps aspires tomorrow to be President of the Republic” and who tells you: “I am not going to respect the law because I don’t like it. Tremendous ! “.
Reduction of land concreting
“You cannot be an elected representative of the Republic and evade the laws passed by Parliament, that does not exist”, echoed the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet on France Inter and franceinfo.
The Climate and Resilience law, adopted in 2021, entrusts the regions with the task of setting an objective for reducing the concreteization of land. Objective: to halve, by 2031, the consumption of natural and agricultural areas compared to the previous decade, until reaching “zero net artificialization” by 2050.
A “ruralicide” law for Wauquiez
Denouncing a “ruralicide” law, Laurent Wauqiez announced on Saturday that his region was withdrawing from the process, attracting wrath from several political sides. “It’s really demagoguery at all levels,” Pierre Hurmic, mayor (EELV) of Bordeaux, reacted again on Franceinfo on Sunday, regretting “this type of very short-term policy” because it “prepares days which will be extremely hard”.
In July, faced with mayors’ concerns, relaxations were voted on in relation to the 2021 text, notably the creation of a “rural guarantee”, a right to build of at least one hectare, allocated to municipalities, and mutualizable with ‘others. Major projects of national scope will also be counted separately.