Sébastien Michel did not mince his words. The mayor of Écully reacted to the rejection by the administrative court of Lyon of the request filed by the Métropole de Lyon. This aimed to impose the opening of a center for unaccompanied minors in the former CESI premises in Écully, against the wishes of the municipality.
In its decision, the administrative court justified the rejection of the Lyon Metropolis' request for interim relief by finding confusion in the steps taken. According to the court: “the request presented by the Forum Refugees association in July 2024 was a request for authorization to carry out work, and not a request for authorization to open”. The latter, necessary to validate the reception of the public, should have been submitted after the completion of the work and an on-site visit to verify the conformity of the installations. However, although the work was finalized in October 2024, “no explicit request to open the center was sent to the commune of Écully”.
The court also underlines that the opposition expressed by the mayor of Écully is not based on reasons relating to the standards applicable to establishments open to the public, but on other considerations. Under these conditions, “the Métropole de Lyon does not establish that the mayor of Écully would have received a regular request”, concluded the judge. Thus, he considers that the mayor did not commit “obviously illegal” and rejects the request.
For Sébastien Michel: “this court decision underlines, as I have said from the beginning, the contempt, the cynicism, the brutality of the method used by Bruno Bernard.” He also denounces “unpreparedness and confusion” around this matter.
-The mayor of Écully was also outraged by the attitude of the president of the Metropolis: “This is a challenge when you are at the head of a community of nearly 10,000 agents and a budget of more than 4 billion euros.” He adds: “It is not normal for a president of the Metropolis to attack a mayor in court to impose his views on him.”
The latter is now calling for a return to calm: “In any case, this does not correspond to the idea I have of local democracy, and I hope that appeasement will prevail from now on.”
