This Saturday, a reduced format – but no less international – is expected in the Capitals of the Alps. Because the environmentalist mayor of Grenoble, Eric Piolle, is preparing to receive representatives of the UN, the European Commission, but also youth delegations from different nations, on the occasion of the kick-off of Grenoble Capitale Green 2022.
During this year of reign, the city of nearly 160,000 inhabitants (and more broadly 450,000 souls if we take the perimeter of its metropolis) will see each month punctuated by a theme linked to ecological transition.
But before that, Mayor EELV, re-elected in July 2020, presented wishes to the press on Tuesday, marked of course by the health crisis, but also by more national and political issues.
The files were not lacking on the desk of the mayor, who had announced his candidacy for the environmental primary at the beginning of the summer, to finally join that of the MEP Yannick Jadot, during his defeat in the first round of the primary .
- The subject of the presidential election, and his former opponent Yannick Jadot
The mayor of Grenoble, who is now part of Yannick Jadot’s “strategic committee”, has not remained inactive in terms of ideas. An opportunity to comment:
“Today there is a lot of noise around the question of the rally. I myself have experience of how this type of rally is built, with our experience in Grenoble, and that is not done in an electoral campaign. “.
And this, while affirming however that “the environmentalist family is now together and open”, recalling that there are now within it “at least three lists present during the last European elections, and which totaled 19%”.
Eric Piolle also slips that the environmental project “could be presented at the end of the month”, not far from there, in Lyon, another stronghold of EELV where already sit the president of Greater Lyon Bruno Bernard, very active in the campaign of Yannick Jadot, as well as the mayor of Lyon, Grégory Doucet.
- The case of the Zemmour wishes, quickly eluded
With, to begin with, an allusion from the first minutes of his speech to the wishes pronounced by the far-right candidate, Eric Zemmour. The one who had criticized, a few days ago, the profession of journalist that he himself had exercised on the occasion of his vows, is pointed out by Eric Piolle: “These comments are extremely shocking and energy is also needed and dykes are needed to contain this violence, which always begins in the face of the press, with words, and which then grows and spreads, as we have seen. seen, with the attacks of Sciences Po Grenoble“, estimated the mayor of Grenoble, who adds:
“Whether it is attacks against religious minorities, against gender minorities or anti-Semitism, our history is eloquent and our darkest pages must enlighten us to anticipate”, estimated Eric Piolle.
- The absence of Emmanuel Macron, “an evasion”
For Eric Piolle, the discussions initiated over the last few months with a view to organizing the visit of Emmanuel Macron, on the occasion of the inauguration of Grenoble Capitale Verte which will take place this Saturday, are only the illustration of a “evasion of the president who, by turning his back on Grenoble, is also turning his back on millions of people, entrepreneurs, parents, associations, who are working to create new prosperity”.
The President of the Republic will again be represented by his Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, who had already come to Grenoble a few weeks ago, in order to materialize a commitment from the State of 4 million euros for this event. .
An opportunity also, for the Grenoble elected official, to regret that Emmanuel Macron has chosen to keep the rotating presidency of the European Union, “which returns mathematically every 14 years“, while at the same time preparing for a presidential election.”A major snub to Europe”, according to him :
“Where France took the lead seven years ago through the Cop 21, this shift shames us, as do the negotiations with the gas lobbies carried out in recent months in order to weigh on a European scale” . Eric Piolle wishes, on this subject, “that Saturday is a time when we hear the youth who were not heard during the Cop 26”.
- “The flagship promise”: a tax on parking SUVs under consideration for 2023
During this exercise of wishes, Eric Piolle took the opportunity to drop an announcement that could cause a stir: in order to pursue his objective of “protect the health of the inhabitants” and to “continue to put social justice at the heart of its action”, the mayor of Grenoble has indeed announced the introduction of a reform of the city’s parking system for 2023, providing in particular for a tax for the heaviest individual vehicles, such as SUVs.
Noting a phenomenon of “explosion” of this type of vehicle, which would reach according to the figures mentioned by the elected “nearly 40% of new registrations of new cars in France, in cities like Lyon“, the environmentalist mayor estimated:
“Transporting humans weighing between 50 and 90 kg on average, in cars like 206 of 600 kg is already one thing, but to do it in vehicles that weigh 1.6 to 1.8 tons is another, because they emit even more GHGs, fine particles and more generally, particles during braking, taking into account the universal laws of physics”.
It remains to specify the terms of this tax project, since it must be remembered that the elected environmentalist had first undertaken a first reform of parking pricing in Grenoble during his first mandate, in order to make his grid progressive and adapted to household income.
A provision which had finally been revoked by the administrative court in February 2017, which argued a measure “not respecting the equality of citizens” and thus forcing the municipality to reimburse the overpayment to a fringe of its inhabitants.
- The sphere of local opposition, in the metropolis
The local plan was also cited by the mayor of Grenoble, with some allusions concerning the role and governance of the metropolitan tool, which had given rise to a major battle in the summer of 2020 between the environmental supporters of the camps. Eric Piolle, and those of the outgoing president and ex-PS, Christophe Ferrari. The latter had finally been reappointed, narrowly, at the head of Grenoble Alpes Métropole, also in charge of the tool of the SMMAG (Syndicat Mixte des Mobilités de l’Aire Grenobloise – SMMAG) which manages public transport.
At the start of 2022, however, the lines of fracture still seem far from being closed, since Eric Piolle took advantage of his wishes to regret “free public transport that Grenoble residents were waiting for on weekends” or “the reduction in the supply of the network“, managed by the Metropolis.
But also the subject of the Citizen’s Climate Convention, which the metropolis of Grenoble also wishes to launch soon, which represents both for Eric Piolle “an opportunity to up the game for the territory“, even if he assures: “We will ensure that the principle of no filter, essential to respect the ambitions of citizens and overcome conservatism, is applied”.
Questioned about his relations with the metropolitan tool, Eric Piolle again deplored the absence of direct elections within a metropolis like that of Grenoble, which according to him reflect “a major discrepancy between the choice of ballot boxes and the composition of the executive”. “But our goal remains to get things done as much as possible.”
- And the outstanding question: that of the trial of the Tile Festival
Questioned by the press, Eric Piolle confirmed the holding of a hearing next March concerning the affair of the Fête des Tuiles, this Grenoble event which he had created in 2015 as a major popular event, and for which he was sent back to the Valencia court on suspicion of “favoritism” regarding the awarding of a public market, for the years 2015 and 2016, to a cultural association.
“This case is not complicated at all because I am a litigant and a boss like any other. It is still a technical dispute on which we had the opportunity to express ourselves. We followed a procedure of public market on this subject and the question will be decided by the court. That does not worry me more than that”, affirmed the elected ecologist, who recalls that “the whole chain of management of the city” is also subpoenaed in this procedure.
And Eric Piolle adds: “We go to court often, especially with the Métropole, with which we had another technical dispute over a sum of 500,000 euros concerning the maintenance of terminals, and on which we won”.
A busy agenda therefore, for a year when Grenoble should be in the spotlight on a national scale.
