2023-09-22 16:10:44
An ambitious objective, better territorial equity… Three months after the riots following the death of Nahel in Nanterre, the mayors of large cities and metropolises, united in the Urban France association, are calling for change. Meeting at a congress in Angers, the association of elected officials wants to give a new dynamic to the next city contracts, which govern city policy until 2030.
“The worst would be to consider that adding to these contracts to facilitate actions in working-class neighborhoods is useless, and that it would be better to strengthen repression rather than all this prevention and support work,” underlines Francis Guiteau, deputy for urban renewal in Angers. Because for the Angevin elected official, we must “not confuse the riots and the reality of life in working-class neighborhoods, with actors who have been mobilizing for years to help people find hope.”
A budget increasing by 40 million euros for 2024
Ten days ago, Secretary of State for the City Sabrina Agresti-Roubache announced an increase of 40 million euros in her ministry’s budget for 2024, to 640 million euros. A positive signal which remains a drop in the bucket for mayors. “We often say that there is a lot of money put into city politics but the truth is that it is 1% of the state budget”, recalls Johanna Rolland, PS mayor of Nantes and president from urban France, for whom “the question of ambition is major”.
The first announcements should be made on October 9, during an interministerial committee of cities chaired by Élisabeth Borne. Among the areas of consensus, elected officials from large cities are calling for work to be done on the link between the police and the population. “We must reposition police doctrine. Today we have an intervention police and no longer a link police. We must recreate links with young people, traders, residents,” underlines Michel Bisson (PS), president of the Grand Paris Sud agglomeration.
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