Emmanuel Macron launches Act II by targeting drug trafficking

For Act II of “Marseille en grand”, Emmanuel Macron targeted Monday, June 26, the first day of his visit, the drug traffickers who mourn the city, calling for “collective responsibility” and not to “glorifying recreational drug use”.

“We cannot lament the children killed in the neighborhoods, the economy and the violence that goes with narcotics, and glorify the recreational consumption of narcotics”insisted the Head of State, accompanied in particular by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, during a speech on the subject of safety on the construction site of the Baumettes prison 3.

: additional means and payment of fines

Noting that “settlement of accounts between clans” have already caused twenty-three deaths this year in Marseille, “a year 2023 in the trajectory of that of 2022, that is to say among the most violent in the history of the city”, the President of the Republic announced additional resources. With, among other things, the arrival of a fourth CRS company in the fall, twenty-five new investigators in the criminal division and the crime prevention brigade, and the creation of a “interministerial task force to fight against the bosses” bringing together customs, tax authorities, judicial police, Urssaf and field police.

The Head of State also announced that the payment of fixed fines for drug use can now be “immediate, by credit card or in cash”. This would improve the recovery rate, by only 35%, a level “unacceptable”. The decree to this effect will be published in early September, and the equipping of agents with five thousand payment terminals has begun, he said.

Transport: doubling of the subsidy

Before his arrival in Marseille on Monday, Emmanuel Macron had distilled several announcements in Provence. By launching the “Marseille en grand” plan in September 2021, the Head of State had already put 5 billion euros on the table to strengthen the police force, renovate schools, urban space and a transport network. in common suffering from a “colossal delay”. On this last part, Emmanuel Macron announced to the regional daily the doubling of the subsidy to the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, from 256 to 500 million euros.

“In particular by increasing the contribution for projects in the northern districts”, he says. Globally, “all this must go even faster”he ured the local newspaper on Sunday: “You have to think big”he insisted, accusing in ping the local elected officials, without quoting them by name, of “to procrastinate”. After a long streak devoted to reindustrialization and new technologies, Emmanuel Macron is thus continuing his political and media marathon to relaunch his five-year term after the pension crisis.

“Grand port” from Marseille to Lyon

As in 2021, where he had already stayed three days – a record in the presidential agenda – the Head of State, accompanied in particular by the Minister of the Interior, the Keeper of the Seals, the Minister of Education or his colleagues in culture and health, went on to make a series of visits – to the headquarters of the judicial police, to a primary school being renovated, to the construction site of the Baumettes 3 prison, to the Laveran army hospital – and the exchanges with the inhabitants.

During a sequence devoted to the port, the president will no doubt develop his idea of ​​developing a “big harbour” linking Marseille to Lyon, along the Rhône furrow, which would allow the connection with Germany for the transport of goods and energy.

Housing: plan on degraded condominiums

The president is also eagerly awaited on housing, another black spot of the city, with its large dilapidated buildings and its old run-down neighborhoods. As he announces to Provence, he will unveil, during his visit, a plan on degraded private condominiums. If the Elysée welcomes the first results of the “Marseille en grand” plan, the change is still not very visible in the eyes of the inhabitants.

Mayor Benoît Payan, at the head of a union of the left and ecologist, and the president Les Républicains de la métropolis, Martine Val, welcome, for their part, the commitment of the president, but also demand even more means in the face of to the challenges to be met.

Apart from possible “cerolades”, the Head of State will also be welcomed by Marseillais dissatisfied with his policy, in particular with the demonstration of the clerks at 12:30 p.m. at the courthouse or this call for a rally in front of the prefecture at 5 p.m. from the CGT 13.

The World with AFP