More public spending in a country whose debt has already exceeded three trillion euros and which is watched over by the markets. After generous state aid during the covid and to mitigate the effects of the war in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday an emergency law to pay for rapid reconstruction after the enormous damage caused by several days of extremely violent urban riots.
The French president launched his promise during a meeting of several hours at the Elysée with 302 mayors of municipalities that suffered the ravages of serious disorders. The goal is to speed up procedures so that repairs can begin as soon as possible.
The meeting at the presidential palace was a true brainstorming, a very Macronian scene, in which the head of state listened attentively, taking notes, to the comments and ideas expressed by mayors of various political affiliations regarding the roots of anger. and ways to overcome it. No one dared to propose magic recipes because the problem has been dragging on for decades. Not all of those who had been invited attended because they did not want to attend an act to wash the image of the Elysée, which several years ago did not want to apply a thorough rehabilitation plan for the suburbs that was drawn up at the request of Macron himself. The president admitted this Tuesday that he was wrong not to take it into consideration.
“Everything that has been said today we have been saying for a long time,” lamented the mayor of Cannes, the conservative David Lisnard, who is also the president of the French Association of Mayors. Unfortunately, things are not heard until there is an emotion, a particular actuality”. “It’s good that we talk, it’s useful, but what counts are the facts,” agreed the Socialist mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. Actually, a good part of the diagnosis has been known to us for a long time.”
It will take a lot of money to buy new buses, trams and police vehicles to replace those that were burnt down, to replace burning rubbish bins, to repair burned and vandalized schools, libraries and social facilities. Only a part of the damage will be covered by the insurance companies. The bill will be gigantic. It remains to be seen what kind of help the private sector receives, since there are hundreds of shops attacked, tobacconists, bank branches, clothing stores, supermarkets. The tobacconists – which in France are often also bars – have been a priority target of youth gangs dedicated to looting. Tobacco takes up little space and can be easily resold on a very buoyant black market. There are tobacconists who have suffered the theft of merchandise, between tobacco and liquor, worth 50,000 euros.
Although the revolt is practically extinguished, the police alert remains. The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, said that the limit for the circulation of buses and trams will be ten at night, an hour later than in previous days, which shows a certain relaxation.
Parliamentarians from the president’s Renacimiento party and allied groups are pushing for a massive police presence to be maintained, convinced that authority and a strong will to restore order must be shown.
A debate in the National Assembly on the riots was very heated, with serious accusations against the Government from both extreme right-wing deputies and the radical left. The Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, reproached La France Insoumisa (LFI) for exploiting the death of the young Nahel at a police checkpoint in Nanterre on Tuesday of last week and for seeking “a constant excuse for violence”. In fact, LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been criticized by his left-wing allies for failing to explicitly call for calm when the riots were raging.
