David Lisnard quotes Bismark: “Diplomacy without weapons is music without instruments. » The precept of the former German chancellor will set the tone for the congress of mayors, which will be held in Paris from Tuesday, November 19 to Wednesday, November 21. The Association of Mayors of France (AMF), of which Lisnard (Les Républicains, LR), mayor of Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), is president, intends to exert maximum pressure on the government to advance its demands. At the forefront of them: achieving a reduction in the effort requested by the government from local authorities by 2025. At this stage there are 5 billion euros of savings.
The vice president of the AMF and mayor of Issoudun (Indre), the socialist André Laignel, assures that this is actually the case “11 billion” that will be collected, if we count all the measures that affect community income. And warns: it is a “Congress of Anger” that opens. The AMF wants to make this a show of force.
A handkerchief demonstration is planned for Tuesday on the congressional grounds. “Feeding the Danaïdes barrel of a State that never makes the efforts it imposes on others is enough, and we are going to say itsays Mr. Lisnard. I spend my time containing the anger of the mayors. But, at some point, we must be careful that the next “yellow vests” do not wear tricolor scarves…” Elected officials have also planned actions outside of Congress. Ten town halls in the Gard will remain closed from November 19 to 21 as a sign of protest, according to France Bleu and France 3.
“Less bureaucracy”
So much for the “weapons”. “Diplomacy” will involve in particular “demonstration”. Lisnard will once again defend the idea that depleting community resources “it only feeds a system that creates deficits”. For the mayor of Cannes, who is preparing for the 2027 presidential elections, the country would be much better off with less “central technocracy”, “less bureaucracy” and more autonomy for local elected officials.
In this context, the Prime Minister is expected to attend the mayors’ congress on Thursday. He is willing to make concessions. On Friday, November 15, speaking before the departments gathered in Congress, Michel Barnier assured that he would take their situation into account: “We are going to significantly reduce the effort required by the finance law”said. Without advancing any amount. It was the president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher (LR), who took charge of it, estimating, on Sunday, that the effort of the local authorities should be “around 2 billion euros”and not 5 billion, in an interview with sunday newspaper.
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