The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is obliged to be transparent and to transmit documents relating to Laurent Wauquiez's “Summit Dinner”, organized in 2022. The Council of State rejected the community's appeal at the end of December.
This was Laurent Wauquiez's last resort. At the end of December, the Council of State rejected the appeal of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region and forced the community to make public the documents linked to the organization of the “Summit Dinner”, organized by the former president (LR) of the region in 2022, as revealed by Tribune de Lyon.
The now leader of the Republicans in the National Assembly is implicated in this affair of a sumptuous dinner which was held at the expense of the region. An event organized in a Beaujolais castle, costing more than 100,000 euros and bringing together 90 personalities.
In detail, if the vast majority of names cited in the press are those of unknown people to the general public, some stand out from the crowd. This is the case of Lyon personalities like Thierry Frémaux (director of the Lumière Institute), Olivier Ginon (CEO of GL Events, giant in the events sector) or the starred chef Régis Marcon, but also of sportsmen Sébastien Chabal ( former French rugby player), Alexis Pinturault (world ski champion) or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (former French tennis player).
An “attack on legal procedure”
Until now, the region had always refused to transmit the complete list of guests as demanded by the regional opposition.
“The administrative documents requested [sont] likely to be the subject of political use likely to undermine the current legal proceedings”, indicated the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region.
The argument, however, did not convince the courts, to the satisfaction of the opposition. In a press release, the socialist, ecological and democratic group underlines that “this decision marks a significant victory for transparency and ethics”.
The group's regional representative Johann Cesa had filed a request asking the region to provide the list of guests for this dinner, as well as the list of all dinners of this type organized since 2015. He also requested other documents detailing the cost of each dinner and proving the interest of these events for the region.
Maéva Commecy with Alixan Lavorel
