The government can breathe a sigh! relief. The judges of the State Council, meeting as a panel of nine judges, rejected on Monday 20 June, the appeal filed by associations and individuals, against the decree of April 23 on the consultation of the Loire-Atlantique voters on the proposed transfer of the current Nantes airport. The local consultation Sunday, June 26 is legal, and 967,500 voters Loire-Atlantique department are invited to visit one of the 1,051 polling stations to answer yes or no to the question: “Do you support the proposed transfer of Nantes-Atlantique airport in the municipality of Notre-Dame-des-Landes? “
This decision was more or less expected, so it seemed unlikely that the highest administrative court in France frontally disavow the Prime Minister Manuel Valls and President François Hollande, both carriers of this proposed local referendum. A fortiori, in less than a week of an election whose cost was estimated by the Ministry of Interior, in early June, to 1.2 million euros, mainly used for printing and mail routing.
the State Council, invited the morning by the rapporteur public Xavier Lesquen to reject the “appeal for suspension” . The three main arguments advanced by opponents, for the suspension of local consultation Sunday, were swept by the judges of the Palais-Royal Square: the question, the electoral structure and the fact that the state can not consult once completed the entire decision process.
Everything is already decided
on this last point, the judges ruled that ” the law allowed the State to proceed with the consultation even though no authorization is no longer needed for the project and that it has already been declared public utility “. For opponents, on the contrary, the order of April 21, which authorizes the state to “consult the voters of a territorial area of the world to gather their opinion on an infrastructure project or equipment likely to affect the environment “ specifies that this procedure can be taken as ” decision making “ is not completed. They believe that, in the case of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, everything is over, everything is already decided
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opponents also challenged the question put to voters Loire-Atlantique. Blurred because they consider it does not specify to which scenario it refers – airport two tracks retained in the declaration of public utility (DUP) of 2008, or an infrastructure to a single track as discussed by experts missioned by the environment Minister. The judges felt that the issue is not ambiguous, and “do not question the sincerity of the upcoming ballot” . In the morning, the public rapporteur, although favorable to the rejection of the appeal had yet pointed a “degree of uncertainty” in the question, even venturing to propose a new version: ” Are you in favor of the airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes as provided by the 2008 DUP? “
The No camp, including the inter-citizen Association of populations affected by the airport project (ACIPA) and the Collective of elected doubting the relevance airport ( CEDPA), also refuted the notion of “transfer” in this question. It is in their abuse, because if the state and Great-West Airport, a subsidiary of Vinci Airports, the concessionaire of future platform, prepare well to build a new site in the Nantes countryside, the current track will disappear not provided, then serving the needs of the Airbus industry.
electoral perimeter in question
Finally, the legitimate State Council as the department perimeter electoral polling, as suggested by the Prime Minister. Opponents refuse this choice, noting that the project has always been presented as of regional, even national, and that the DUP was signed by the state, the future airport is also funded by the old regions Pays de la Loire and Britain.
Monday, M th Erwan Le Moigne, lawyer associations are asked to “the legal basis for this decision” . “This once again demonstrates that the project is unnecessary and no political validity” , says lawyer Nantes. M th Pauline Corlay, the applicants’ lawyer, wondered “If the decision has already been made, regardless of the outcome of the consultation” .
After this new failure, the legal battle continues. The No camp has yet to regain the judges of the State Council. France Nature Environnement, the Peasant Confederation, the union Solidaires and Attac (44) filed an urgent application to this time to suspend and annul the order of 21 April. A tailor-made legislation to allow local consultation on Notre-Dame-des-Landes, announced by Mr. Holland on 11 February. The decision is expected Wednesday, June 22
If the Council of State affirmed the legality of Sunday’s election, opponents continue to challenge its legitimacy. To the chagrin of the government, which hoped by this consultation revive this airport folder, becalmed for over fifty years
Read also:. Notre-Dame-des-Landes: story of “the oldest struggle in France”
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