Former city minister François Lamy appointed special adviser to the mayor of Marseille

2023-05-02 15:35:09

François Lamy, then socialist deputy for Essonne, in Paris, on December 14, 2015. ERIC FEFERBERG / AFP

The former minister and ex-deputy of Essonne François Lamy will integrate in the coming days the cabinet of the various left mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan. The news, confirmed at Monde by the interested party, was announced, Tuesday, May 2, to the elected representatives of the Printemps Marseille majority. Mr. Lamy, 63, is appointed “special adviser” of the mayor, in particular in charge of “public and institutional relations” and a ” forward-looking mission for Marseille 2050”.

This mid-term arrival may seem surprising. In July 2020, the former Minister Delegate for the City in the governments of Jean-Marc Ayrault from 2012 to 2014 was the unfortunate victim of a war of influence within the Marseille town hall. While Michèle Rubirola, freshly elected mayor at the head of Printemps Marseille, a left-wing coalition, environmentalist and citizen, had told him that she wanted to hire him as director of her cabinet, some of the main leaders of the majority, including Benoît Payan, opposed his appointment.

“Things have moved”

For his newly elected deputies, François Lamy, whose name had been blown to Michèle Rubirola by the former minister and head of the Greens Cécile Duflot, appeared too experienced to occupy the post. His past and his political dimension seemed potentially able to overshadow a young team in full installation.

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A veto which François Lamy obviously did not hold a grudge. “Things have changed since then. The legitimacy of Benoît Payan is no longer questioned by anyone., he acknowledges. His relations with the one who succeeded M^me Rubirola in December 2020 have improved in recent months. The former minister was notably entrusted with the organization of the Estates General of Housing in Marseille, held on November 28 and 29, 2022. A symposium dedicated to the fight against substandard housing, one of the priorities of the mandate, which resulted in significant progress between the State, metropolis and municipality. All the actors then underlined the active part taken in these results by Mr. Lamy.

Like Benoît Payan, the former minister distanced himself from the Socialist Party at the time of the presidential election in 2022 – he had then joined the campaign team of Yannick Jadot, the environmental candidate –, but still says to himself “socialist at heart”. In addition to his forward-looking missions, he should provide political advice to a young elected official – 45 years old – who is necessarily thinking of the municipal deadlines of 2026.