Do not be rolled again – Liberation
The operation could be called « enough concessions to the stupid », although its official name, « ambition France Transports », lets nothing sweat. Prime Minister, François Bayrou, is going this Monday, May 5 to Marseille to launch on Monday, May 5 to launch A centralized plan for transportation of transport by 2040. Recovery of rail, new RER lines, infrastructure regeneration, river freight – if the ambitions of the operation are not lacking, its most explosive financial stake is certainly The decision concerning motorway concessionsone of the most expensive failures in state governance in the 21st century. Many policies eyeing the next presidential election, from Dominique de Villepin to Bruno Le Maire, will still drag this 2006 ball, The privatization of the French motorway network At broken prices in unalterable concessions, madly granted for thirty years. Practically all the safeguards of the French economy-the Court of Auditors, a parliamentary commission of inquiry, the General Inspectorate of Finance, a Senate Control Commission, the Competition Authority and others-have since criticized, sometimes violently, this financial operation perceived as an irresponsible braderie of family jewelry. The concessions which made the fortune of the shareholders of Vinci, Eiffage and Albertis, the main operators, finally arrive between 2031 and 2036. The plan launched today by Bayrou will have to decide between a new model of concession, however difficult to consider, a return to 1973 mixed economy model Or a pure and simple nationalization, which would align the French model with that of most of our neighbors. By then, operators must, at the end of the contract, return the infrastructure to the State « in good condition », having made all the investments that were expected from them. The first ambition of the “Ambition France Transports” plan must therefore be not to be rolled twice in the same flour.
