The government, accused of indifference, defended on Friday June 26 its action for the economic conversion of Fessenheim, but acknowledged that the health crisis had braked files, a few days before the final shutdown of the Alsatian power plant.
35 million euros mobilized
“Already 35 million euros have been mobilized on the territory, so what one can read here or there, that the State would be indifferent, it is not true at all”, we told the Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition.
Of these 35 million for the revitalization of the territory, 21 million come directly from the State, the rest being shared between the region, the department and the intermunicipal association.
More “The Covid crisis has been a drag on all files”, the Haut-Rhin department being particularly affected by the pandemic, has it been recognized in the entourage of Minister Élisabeth Borne and some secretary of state Emmanuelle Wargon.
“If little has been accelerated in recent months, the dynamics are well underway and are being pushed by the ministers”, according to the same source.
Employees in retraining
While the plant must stop operating definitively Tuesday, June 30, local elected officials criticized “State indifference” and lack of concrete perspectives to make up for lost jobs.
“After the closure, we find ourselves completely dry and very far from any territorial project”, said for example the president (LR) of the Grand Est region, Jean Rottner.
The government, for its part, has returned to its economic, ecological, transport and innovation development projects.
He is betting in particular on an activity area called EcoRhena. “We will organize the installation of the first companies in the coming years, we are talking about the end of 2021 during 2022 for these concrete establishments”, one indicates to the ministry.
The latter expressed his “Enthusiasm” after the announcement of a biofuel factory project from wood that could create between 350 and 700 jobs.
Regarding the project of « technocentre » EDF dedicated to the recycling of weakly irradiated metal waste, it is still ” under investigation “.
On the social plan, « the reclassification of EDF employees is going well »: Out of 737 employees, “More than 60% of situations are fully resolved”, according to the ministry.
Among the plant’s 298 subcontractors, more than 170 have carried out retraining and ” one hundred “ is enrolled in training.
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