Parliament on Thursday challenged Emmanuel Macron’s appointment of the LR mayor of Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes), Boris Ravignon, at the head of Ademe, the ecological transition agency, parliamentarians fearing in particular an excessive combination of functions .
This is the first time that a candidate proposed by the Elysée, at Ademe or elsewhere, has been challenged according to this consultation procedure introduced in 2008 under article 13 of the Constitution, indicated the Planning Commission. of the territory and sustainable development of the Senate in a press release, describing this decision as a “historic first”.
At the end of Mr. Ravignon’s hearing on Wednesday morning, more than three-fifths of the elected representatives of the competent committees of the Assembly and the Senate voted against, i.e. the quota required by the Constitution to oppose a proposed appointment. by the President of the Republic.
In detail, 57 deputies and senators voted against, and 32 for.
Without being an administrative authority, Ademe participates in the implementation of public policies in the fields of climate and energy and is a reference for companies and institutions on ecological transition.
The appointment of Boris Ravignon, for an interim period following the resignation in June of Arnaud Leroy from the presidency of this institution, one year from the end of his term, was narrowly validated on December 14 by parliamentarians.
The votes against were then in the majority but without reaching the threshold of 3/5.
But following the renewal of Ademe’s board of directors on February 14, this appointment had to be reconfirmed by parliamentarians for a full term of five years.
During his hearing, deputies and senators criticized Mr. Ravignon in particular for having refused to resign from his mandate as mayor, which he has held since 2014 – he is also president of the urban community – following his first appointment at the head of Ademe.
The person concerned argued “the interest of staying in contact with the field”, stressing that this was “legal” and had “already happened in the past”.
“We cannot manage a municipality of 50,000 inhabitants – we know how much the citizens need their mayor in these times of crisis – and the Ademe. You have to choose!”, replied the deputy of Pas-de-Calais Emmanuel Blairy (RN).
“What also blocked us was his pro-nuclear side. He is probably not the best person to apply the measures of a bill on renewable energies,” he told AFP. Sylvain Carrière, LFI deputy for Hérault.
The Senate committee castigated the procedure carried out by the executive, its president Jean-François Longeot, UDI senator from Doubs, even describing as “grotesque” the fact of having to hear Mr. Ravignon for the second time in barely four months. .
“This vote reflects Parliament’s dissatisfaction with such unpreparedness, a new manifestation of the executive’s lack of consideration for it,” insisted the senators in a statement.
In April 2022, Boris Ravignon had given his support to Emmanuel Macron against the candidate LR Valérie Pécresse for the presidential election.
The two men, both enarques of the same generation (Boris Ravignon is 47 and Emmanuel Macron 44), worked together at the General Inspectorate of Finance in Bercy in 2004-2005, before Boris Ravignon joined Nicolas’ cabinet. Sarkozy, then interior minister and soon-to-be presidential candidate in 2007.
In 2008, he was appointed to the Elysée, adviser in charge of sustainable development, transport and regional planning, participating in the Grenelle de l’environnement.
For Ademe, which, following the departure of Mr. Leroy, had been led by a first interim president, Patrick Lavarde, before the second interim provided by Boris Ravignon, a new period of uncertainty therefore opens. Contacted by AFP, neither the agency nor the Ministry of Ecological Transition nor Boris Ravignon immediately reacted.
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04/12/2023 18:45:21 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
