La Canua Island, a private floating beach, want to settle on the French Riviera. But the promoters announced this Tuesday, June 13 their desire to give up this project, in the absence of the necessary permits. The latter have seriously reprimanded the elected officials, accusing them of promoting a “facade ecology”.
“We have been made clear that we should not expect anything for this summer”, write in a press release the designers of this project, posing as “victims of a political vendetta” and castigating a “settlement of accounts which exceeds the ‘economic understanding’. Supported by the town hall of Mandelieu-la-Napoule (Alpes-Maritimes), a town off which the building was to drop anchor, the initiative had in particular been strongly contested by the Renaissance president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d Azur Renaud Muselier.
“Despite a 100% compliant file and numerous explanations, we did not receive this Monday, June 12, 2023 the permits necessary for the operation of Canua. We were made clear that we shouldn’t expect anything for this summer”, detail in their press release the president of Canua Jean-Bernard Falco and his managing directors and co-founders, Marc Audineau and Tony Philp.
“This obstruction and political aberration, this denial of rights leads us to take responsibility for the consequences of the situation and obliges us to terminate the contracts of those who trusted us. We informed our 100 employees earlier that we could not hold out any longer”, they add, deploring a “social plan […] brought about by the sole political will to block a file in all respects of the law and protection of the sea”.
“The position of the government is that the development of artificial islands is not compatible with the need to strengthen the protection of the marine environment”, for its part argued on Monday the State Secretariat for the Sea, questioned by AFP after a letter from Mr. Audineau questioning the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and complaining in particular of a “blocking” of Hervé Berville, the Secretary of State for the Sea. “The new legislation resulting from the law acceleration of renewable energies also now strictly regulates floating installations at sea and reserves this type of structure in the future for the development of renewable energies and public service missions”, added the Secretary of State.
“The services of the various ministries concerned instruct as for any project, neither more quickly, nor less quickly, the necessary authorizations”, had assured the Secretary of State, adding however: “The commercial artificialization of the maritime space, on a already very urbanized coast, in a sea plagued by numerous pollutions, therefore does not fit into the necessary logic and ecological policy”. Canua Island, a 1,750 square meter platform placed on a motor trimaran, was currently moored in the port of La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var) pending its various permits.
