He left the regional scene to the warm applause of his camp, this Thursday in Lyon (Rhône). And visibly, this support moved him. Opposite, the socialist and environmentalist opponents seemed rather relieved to have finished with “the brutality” of his mode of operation, according to the words of the socialist elected representative Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.
By handing over the presidency of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Aura) region to Frédéric Pannekoucke, Laurent Wauquiez is turning a page that has lasted more than eight years. In December 2015, Nicolas Sarkozy’s former minister overthrew the socialist Jean-Jack Queyranne in the regional elections. Since then, “the gifted right-winger” has done everything he can to reduce the region’s debt and cut operating expenses.
Noté AA + par Standard & Poor’s
On the one hand, this strategy has allowed the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region to display an envious AA+ in the Standard & Poor’s rating, better than the State and other local authorities. On the other hand, the aid was dictated by a refrain: “Make way for investments, nothing for operations”, repeats the one who denounces cumbersome structures, supposedly archaic organizations, and in barely veiled terms civil servants.
Praised by the socialist Carole Delga, president of Regions of France, this “promoter of the regional fact” leaves a local authority in good financial health, with a budget of around 4 billion euros, which has room for maneuver to finance emblematic projects. Among them, the 2030 Winter Olympics, a project supported by the Aura and Sud regions of Renaud Muselier.
“We were up against Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. It’s a great source of pride to have won the votes of the Olympic Committee,” recalled this history graduate, ENA graduate and graduate of the École Normale Supérieure last spring while visiting the La Plagne bobsleigh track, which was put into service during the Albertville Olympics in 1992.
Damage to associations
Other priorities of his mandate are security in high schools and train stations and, above all, support for farmers. This ardent defender of the French farm “knows the agricultural world. He helped us by considerably increasing the installation bonuses”, appreciates Laurine Rousset, farmer and president of the Young Farmers of Haute-Loire, the department that has just sent Laurent Wauquiez to the Assembly. In fact, the region has gone from 500 to nearly a thousand installations per year in eight years.
But his policy has caused damage to cultural and social associations. And even to the business world. “We tried to set up a cluster in a sector that was still underrepresented. A permanent delegate, another employee and recurring actions, that’s a budget of between 100,000 and 150,000 euros per year. Impossible with only the members’ contributions. The absence of the region forced us to give up,” says the manager of a Lyon mid-sized company who wishes to remain anonymous.
However, overall, business circles appreciate “this brilliant elected official who is hostile to taxes of all kinds,” assures another boss.
Observatory of “Waukism”
This “position forces other levels of communities, and in particular metropolises and agglomerations, to take over”, explains Jean-François Debat, socialist mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) and delegated president of Villes de France, who believes that “the financial health of the Regional Council has been built on the backs of the poor and priority neighborhoods”.
The same observation is made by the environmentalists, who control the metropolises of Lyon and Grenoble. “Despite its thunderous announcements, the region is not up to the task of what it could do in daily transport,” deplores Bruno Bernard, EELV president of the metropolis of Lyon.
A report from the Regional Audit Office published on Wednesday says nothing else. The second largest region in France, which covers twelve departments and two mountain ranges, almost three with part of the Jura, is suffering from underinvestment in equipment and infrastructure. “The State and the SNCF do not take the measure of the investments to be made,” defends the former mayor of Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire), who himself had seized the financial judge.
Led by Maxime Meyer, regional councilor of Ain, the environmentalists have set up an observatory of “Wauquiezism”. They denounce the “president’s highway”, a road financed by the region to open up Haute-Loire when it is not within the remit of a region. They denounce the communication costs and in particular a summit dinner at 100,000 euros in 2022. The president has also dragged his feet in making the list of guests public. A new report from the Regional Audit Office is due to be examined in session on this subject soon. “Conveniently, Laurent Wauquiez will no longer be president to defend this part of his record”, Maxime Meyer annoys.
