The invoice does not pass for the opposition. Various elected officials from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes rose up on Thursday, October 13, after the publication of a survey by Mediapart denouncing the bill for a dinner organized by President Laurent Wauquiez, at the expense of the region.
Organized on June 23 at the Château de la Chaize, in Beaujolais, this “dinner of the summits” – whose first edition had already been held in the spring according to the online media – would have “brought together about 90 people” for a cost “just over 100,000 euros”a final addition of more than 1,100 euros per guest.
In particular, various personalities were present at the table such as Alain Mérieux, the founder of the BioMérieux company, the event magnate Olivier Ginon, the tennis star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the skier Alexis Pinturault and the chairman of the management board. of the M6 group, Nicolas de Tavernost.
“One more scandal” for the opposition
In a reply email to Mediapartthe region admitted to taking the bill “100% at his expense, without any private funding” but did not specify which budget had been charged to this expense when the regional executive recently made significant budget cuts, particularly in the funding of culture.
Requested by Agence France-Presse, the region also explained that these meals, dubbed “summit dinner”, in reference to the mountain passes of the region, aim to “in relation to personalities from all walks of life: cultural, economic, sporting, associative, social and solidarity economy…” pour “Create great synergies between players in our region” for its development.
“We are on around 165 euros per person, the rest is generally linked to exceptional logistics expenses linked to the site”she added.
But for the opposition the bill is considered extravagant. “While 12 million French people are unable to heat themselves, the stations are dry and inflation is confirmed, Laurent Wauquiez and his friends have lost their sense of reality. My group solemnly asks what justified such expenses for this dinner! »shouted on Twitter Andréa Kotarac, president of the group of elected representatives of the National Rally of the region.
“We may wait before spending millions buying space on Facebook and in the press to say that we are the best managed region in France! »quipped Fabienne Grebert, president of the environmental group, on the same social networkwhile the LR president of the region regularly praises the good management of his administration.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, leader of the opposition socialist group, also mocked on Twitter “the famous “assistantship””in reference to a fetish theme of the right-wing president, while his group pointed in a press release to the expenses “sumptuary” and an “total budgetary opacity”.
For the city councilor of Grenoble, Eric Piolle, it is “one more scandal” at the expense of Mr. Wauquiez. “While he cuts subsidies to cities and countryside, Wauquiez treats himself to luxury dinners at 100,000 euros”he denounced. “Indecency”, summarized the leader of ecologists in the Assembly and deputy for Isère, Cyrielle Chatelain.