“This carefully considered decision was not easy to take,” he wrote in a press release, announcing his resignation from the presidency of the Grand-Est region. A decision that “will be commented on”. And for good reason, we learn ten days later: the resigning president of the Grand-Est region will join the consulting firm and real estate developer Réalités, the company announced on Friday.
“The Réalités group announces the opening in the summer of 2023 of its Grand-Est Regional Department. It will be headed by Jean Rottner who, after leaving public life, joined the entrepreneurial adventure”, indicates the company on its website. Listed on the stock exchange, Réalités presents itself as “a territorial development group”, carrying out real estate projects such as the extension of the Bauer stadium in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis) or the development of a new district in Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d’Armor).
On December 20, Jean Rottner (LR) announced that he was leaving public life and retiring from “all of (his) mandates” due to “family imperatives”. His resignation from the regional council is effective since Friday. He was also president of the National Federation of Urban Planning Agencies (FNAU).
The “yes, but” of the HATVP
Seized by Jean Rottner on July 22, 2022, well before his announcement to leave the Grand-Est region, the High Authority for the transparency of public life (HATVP) said in its opinion published this Friday “dismissed” the risk of illegal taking interest, the former elected official having “attested not to have accomplished, during the last three years”, any mission related to his new company. But the HATVP to call on Jean Rottner to “refrain”, within the framework of his new functions, “from carrying out any approach (…) with elected officials and regions of the Grand-Est region and public establishments which fall under”.
“This announcement comes a little quickly, which suggests that it was already concluded for some time,” reacted Éliane Romani, leader of the environmental group. Jean Rottner “uses the network he acquired in his public functions to go and serve a private organization which has relations with the communities, it is a definition of revolving door”, she added.
“He leaves with a large amount of territorial data”, worried Christophe Choserot (Renaissance), member of the centrist group and mayor of Maxéville (Meurthe-et-Moselle). “We were in the middle of a revision of the Sradet (Editor’s note: regional planning, sustainable development and territorial equality plan) he knows exactly what the modifications of this plan will be, what are the assets and the difficulties of the territories, it is not nothing”.
“Deception of voters”
The mayor of Woelfling-lès-Sarreguemines (Moselle), Michaël Weber, also a regional councillor, says he is “bitter” to see Jean Rottner leave his post “only 18 months after his election”, for a mandate which would normally run until 2028 “I think that when you have a political commitment, you take it to the end, you don’t mislead the voters.”
On January 13, the regional council will elect its new president: Franck Leroy (Horizons), mayor of Epernay (Marne) and member of the majority group, is the favorite. “It’s a problem,” said Laurent Jacobelli (National Rally). “People vote but are not sure of the president and the policy they will have”, pointing to the fact that Jean Rottner and Franck Leroy are not from the same party.