Does videoconferencing risk hindering democratic debate? Faced with a controversy over his expensive dinners, Laurent Wauquiez, president (Les Républicains, LR) of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, decided to impose this mode of communication on all regional councilors for their plenary assembly, scheduled for Thursday 20 and Friday October 21. Official reason: the difficulty of travel due to the shortage of fuel.
But the elected opposition members denounced a “democratic impediment”. For them, this decision aims to silence the awkward questions, after the revelations of Mediapart on the organization of “summit dinners”. These are meetings of personalities in a prestigious setting, financed by the community, with only one elected official present: the president of the region. The cost of the evening of June 23, 2022, in a Beaujolais château, thus rose to 100,000 euros; which represented approximately 1,000 euros per guest, taking into account the gourmet menu and logistics costs, according to Mediapart. The regional executive has planned three to four dinners of this type in the year.
“A regional budget is not a personal kitty. We understand that these dinners are intended above all to prepare the candidacy of Mr. Wauquiez for the presidency of 2027 ”, reacted Najat Vallaud Belkacem. The president of the socialist group in the region wanted “ask for explanations during the public plenary assembly”. On learning Monday, at a conference of presidents, that the regional council was going to meet by videoconference, she protested the process. ” This is very serious. Democracy is fragile. We cannot put up with this diversion of the debates. Videoconferencing is not intended to accommodate an embarrassed manager. Little renunciations in little renunciations, we are not doing our country a service”, entrust to Monde the former Minister of National Education.
The administrative court rejects the opposition’s request
The elected socialists have seized the administrative court for interim measures to challenge the use of videoconferencing in such a context. « [Elle] was provided for by the law of February 21, 2022, relating to differentiation, decentralization, deconcentration, known as “3DS”, in order to authorize a means of communication to maintain democratic debate in the event of a crisis. By imposing it to obviously avoid a sensitive subject, the spirit of the law is completely misguided,” supported their lawyer Sylvain Cormier.
You have 50.85% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.