Emmanuel Macron surprises by announcing without consultation RER projects in ten French cities

“We’re going all out. » In a new video, posted on Sunday November 27 on social networks, Emmanuel Macron takes up the codes of youtubers to answer questions from Internet users baptized Xefario, Margo or Pat le Nervous. The occasion of a surprise announcement aiming, it is said at the Elysée, to “give a boost”. “To meet our ecological ambitionexplains the Head of State, I want us to have a great national ambition” : develop an RER network “in ten French cities”. “It’s a great goal for the ecology, the economy, the quality of life”projects the President of the Republic, still marked by the memory of the crisis of “yellow vests”, an extreme symbol of aspirations to open up and fed up with the rise in fuel prices.

If the idea of ​​investing in the metropolitan railway was under study, the announcement took the government by surprise. This is the course, specifies the Elysée, since it “it remains to select the metropolises, the routes and the distribution of funding between the State, the regions and the operators”. In Matignon, the general secretariat for ecological planning had identified about fifteen projects; the effort will therefore focus on the ten priorities. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, will be responsible for “steering these major works”we add in the Elysian entourage.

“It is a project of similar political magnitude to Grand Paris, emphasizes the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune. Connecting metropolises and suburbs was not a virgin subject, but the president makes it an important political orientation. It’s concrete, big projects that make you dream. » In the entourage of Christophe Béchu, Minister of Ecological Transition, we note that “the president is making a great announcement, in total coherence with what the minister made during the round table at the congress of mayors”.

Some cities have already been identified by the executive, such as Lille, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Lyon or Marseille. In the evening, the candidacies of elected officials flourished on social networks. “At Rennes Métropole, we have been ready for a long time to welcome such a project”tweeted Matthieu Theurier, vice-president Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV) in the metropolis of Rennes. “We are ready for Lyon, rejoiced the mayor EELV Grégory Doucet. It is a policy in everyone’s interest. Make the train great again! » Same enthusiastic signs from Christophe Ferrari, boss of the metropolis of Grenoble, or elected officials from Marseille.

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