Justice authorizes the resumption of work despite the total cancellation of the highway at first instance – Liberation
New twist in the endless A69 soap opera. The Toulouse Administrative Court authorized, this Wednesday, May 28, the resumption of the motorway site between Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) and Castres (Tarn), three months after its arrest. The body was pronounced on a short -term appeal filed by the State, a stay of execution, aimed at making restart the work From this ultra-contested bitumen ribbon of 53 km without waiting for the final decision on the merits, which must be rendered in several months during the appeal trial.
The body notably considered that the arguments developed by « Associations and people contesting environmental authorizations did not seem serious ».
On February 27, to everyone’s surprise, the Toulouse administrative court had stopped the construction of this highway In gestation for 30 years, invoking the lack of imperative reason for major public interest (RIIPM), not to justify the damage committed against the environment. This surprise turn, unprecedented in terms of environmental law, had more than tense the defenders of the highway, in particular local elected officials and the government. The State had immediately announced its intention to appeal on the merits, and to file this appeal, validated today by the Court.
It must be said that the signals sent recently by justice did not go in the direction of opponents. During the hearing examining the request of the StateWednesday, May 21, the public rapporteur, a magistrate whose vocation is to shed light on the jurisdiction and whose opinions were generally followed, said he was favorable to a resumption of the site believing that the importance of the cities of Castres, Mazamet and Toulouse, justified « By nature that they are connected by fast road infrastructure ». In a press release, the ecological collective the way is free (Lvel) had denounced for its part of the « elements of language borrowed from project leaders ». « The magistrate has resumed his account several fallacious elements of Atosca », The A69 dealer added the opponents.
« The objective is to obtain the resumption of work as quickly as possible », had underlined the deputy for Tarn Jean Terlier, highlighting the cost according to him exorbitant of immobilization and the security of the site. Now endorsed, the resumption of the site will be done gradually, because it is necessary to bring back in the Tarn the construction machinery, a thousand workers, and wait « Two or three months to shoot at full speed », says Jean Terlier. As for the decision on the bottom of the courtyard, he did not imagine it before 2026.
Which particularly worries opponents. By letting Atosca take over the work, justice takes the risk that they will end before having time to render its final decision on the subject. We think for example of the Strasbourg case, where justice had ended up reasoning to the opponents of the « Granduction Ouest », While the highway was 90 %built, not allowing the site suspension or the opening of the track.
The legislative attack conducted in parallel by parliamentarians in order to bypass the court decision is nothing more or less than « Institutional violence », According to the lawyer for Lvel, Alice Terrasse. This bill, adopted in the Senate And examined Monday June 2 in the National Assembly, aims to retroactively validate the orders broken by the court, in order to definitively legalize the work. « An obvious contempt for justice » For the lawyer, who deplores « A tendency to no longer necessarily respect court decisions, to no longer respect the judges, to say that as soon as we decided a project, the State decides on the general interest and Basta ».
« The urgency is to let the substantive jurisdiction do your job », she insisted, deploring that the pro-autoroute, just like the public rapporteur, favor territorial equity, « Which is not a riipm », « At the detriment of the environment ». Tuesday, May 20, an anti-A69 collective called for a new mobilization on July 4, 5 and 6. “We will not let them go into force and start again. We will not let them continue their policy of the destruction accomplished until the end and argue that a site can no longer be stopped since it is already too advanced ”, He said in a press release, relayed by the earth uprisings on Telegram.
Since the start of work in March 2023, opponents of the highway have occupied trees To avoid their slaughter, tried to install zad (zones to be defended) on the route, organized rallies that brought together thousands of people, some of whom were enamelled with violent incidents with the police.
After the strong mobilization of environmentalists, it was the supporters of the A69 who have been heard in recent months, in particular by demonstrating en masse on March 8 in Castres with as a slogan: « A69, we finish! ». Like the VIA81 association, they see in this infrastructure a solution to open up the Population Basin of Castres-Mazamet, although this argument was swept by the Toulouse court at first instance.
