David Lisnard (LR) welcomes a “positive” discussion with Élisabeth Borne, despite “differences in vision”

An auspicious exchange. This Friday, President LR of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard, met Elisabeth Borne for more than an hour. Despite “vision differences” on certain subjects, the city councilor of Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes) admits that the Prime Minister has shown herself “attentive and respectful», and that the discussions were «positive“. They were able to address many subjects, such as the Zero Net Artificialization (ZAN) approach, on which the tenant of Matignon would have agreed to “review the method“.

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Regretting from “conflicting relationshipsbetween the State and the local authorities during the previous five-year term, when the latter were too oftenpresented with a fait accompli“, David Lisnard intends to ensure that the principle of subsidiarity – according to which decisions must be taken by the lowest level of competent public authority – is respected during this new presidential term. It also calls forlocal freedom» and recalls the need for more «decentralization of public powers“.

“Neither pessimistic nor optimistic”

At the end of July, the AMF had also expressed in a press release “its incomprehension in the face of the contradictory declarations of the government on the imposed reduction in local authority spending“. The association criticized the Minister of the Economy for wanting to impose a reduction in operating expenditure on local authorities, without having consulted them beforehand. David Lisnard then recalled that “the operating budgets of local authorities are not a problem for the public accounts, since they are necessarily in balance“, but that “it is the expenditure of the State – which borrows to finance its operation – and the social expenditure which weigh in the accounts of the nation“.

After this summer meeting with the Prime Minister, David Lisnard does not show himself “neither pessimistic nor optimisticon the future of relations between the executive and the AMF. “We’ll see as time goes onhe smiles. The mayor of Cannes specifies, however, that it is only abeginning of cycle“.