“You see, I’m not tongue-tied!” Leaving the set of the recording of the show Var Politiques (broadcast this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on BFM Var, in partnership with Var Morning), Frédéric Masquelier has a smile. The mayor of Saint-Raphaël has just turned on his best enemy once again: Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.
The one who is also departmental secretary of the LR 83 federation talks about the blocking of regional subsidies, despite his rant two years earlier. “I still have almost no subsidies. It’s a problem”deplores Frédéric Masquelier, who considers himself wronged by 3 million euros since 2021. For the latter, the origin of the quarrel goes back to his refusal to join the Ligne nouvelle Provence Côte d’Azur company (SLNPCA ), chaired by Renaud Muselier: “We were asked for 1.5 million entry fees while they want to stop us from passing TGV trains. Which is extremely detrimental for our city. And even today, we are being sanctioned for that. It’s scandalous !”
Frédéric Masquelier, who had already described his opponent as “Regional Donald Trump” for figures which would be “wrong”slides onto another terrain: “He has a somewhat old-fashioned approach. We’re not from the same generation. I was still in primary school when he started his political life. We don’t see politics in the same way. We have to admit that some mayors may have a different approach and that we are not all vassals.”
“Invest instead in everyday TERs”
In times of budgetary rigor, the mayor of Saint-Raphaël has his own idea to achieve “a multi-billion economy”: “Renaud Muselier must abandon the La ligne nouvelle project”. Despite the costs already incurred? “It would be better to put money into everyday TERs, so that they are cleaner, more on time and more securehe continues. And why not in the 2030 Winter Olympics, if they are as successful as those in Paris!”
Frédéric Masquelier also reacted to the reduction in state grants for communities provided for in the 2025 finance bill, which is equivalent to nearly 1.5 million for Saint-Raphaël. “Since 2014, we have eliminated nearly 5 million allocations, he recalls. Our budgets are therefore increasingly difficult to balance, even though we do not want to increase our taxes. We ask enough of the French as it is.” To cope, the councilor anticipates the postponement of certain road works for one year, as well as the opening of the Miss France museum, “important projects but which are not essential”.
“Simplify standards”
Another avenue proposed to reduce the debt at the national level: “a simplification of standards”his hobby horse. If David Lisnard selected “ten standards” to save “billions”he in point “thousands”. “As decisions are made from above, there are a whole series of useless layers which prevent us from moving forward and cost a fortune”.
What does he think of Michel Barnier? “Today he’s doing the dirty work! It’s courageous. But we have to go further.” Frédéric Masquelier also recognized the difficulties of the Les Républicains party throughout France. “There is not a malaise of the LR only in the Var, he nuances. Our party has been losing momentum since 2012 and the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy. We need great political ambition and fewer personal ambitions, adds our interlocutor. No one is stating the obvious, although David Lisnard’s ideas on the problem of bureaucracy are excellent.”
“Political life is made up of arrivals and departures”
On the departure of certain LR executives (from Philippe Vitel to Édith Audibert, two former deputies) to Éric Ciotti’s Union of Rights? “Nobody cares, he assures. Why worry? Political life is made up of arrivals and departures […]. I don’t think that in the next presidential election, people want to resign themselves to a duel between Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon.”
There remains the question of his candidacy for re-election for the 2026 municipal elections: suspense. “I will announce it to the Raphael people”he first kicks in, while listing the projects that remain to be implemented. Before letting go: “It’s a very demanding role, where you can achieve through a collective. Of course I want to continue.” It already has running mates from all political parties: “I will not discriminate”he specifies. With one exception: LFI, which he still sees as the “principal danger”.
