The conflict around EuropaCity continues to climb. These last two days, opponents and proponents of the real estate development project brought by the real estate subsidiary of Auchan, Ceetrus, and the chinese giant entertainment Wanda have cross-media-iron. Some have market to alert the authorities against a plan that they feel is unsafe for the environment and useless ; the others have announced changes aimed at easing the fears of critics of the initial scheme.
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Friday October 4, the supports have opened up the ballroom during a rally in front of the mairie de Gonesse, followed by a press conference involving many actors, including the department of Val d’oise, france, the communauté d’agglomération Roissy Country-of-France (which includes 42 municipalities, Ecouen, Goussainville, Gonesse and Roissy-en-France), the executive director of Europacity, and representatives of associations such as Act together, and Creative. This event was the occasion to defend a development “critical” for the department, the “poor relation” of the region of Île-de-France.
“I don’t dare to think it would happen woe to EuropaCity”, for example, has accused the chair (LR) of the county council of Val d’oise, france, Marie-Christine Cavecchi, who do not let 10 years of work go up in smoke”. The woman then went further, warning the public authorities in the event of abandonment of the project, “the yellow vests and red caps, it will have been the gnognotte next to the anger that this decision will trigger”. Same sound of bell on the side of the hotel of the city of Gonesse: “it is not necessary to oppose ecological urgency and emergency region”, says the mayor, Jean-Pierre Blazy, adding that this project is to achieve a balance between the preservation of agricultural land and development would be needed to reduce the territorial inequalities”. “The judgment would mean an abandonment of the suburbs, while the lights are pretty in red”, he then stressed.
A new project, more green
At the conference, the group Europacity has also introduced a new version of his project, who wants to become more environmentally friendly: ambition of “zero carbon” in 2027, 4000 trees planted, the creation of 80 hectares of natural areas to compensate for those built, the final cancellation of the “ski slope” that could see the light of day on the site, reduction of commercial space, for the benefit of natural areas, energy supply “to 100% renewable energy – “… The conglomerate gathering to the land of the Auchan group, Ceetrus, and the chinese Wanda, a verdi his copy, hoping to mitigate the criticism of the defenders of the environment.
by doing This, the group also hopes to win the support of the executive, and more particularly that of the new minister of the ecological Transition, Elizabeth Bollard: “we fully join in the appeal to the businesses of the President of the Republic”, writes the group in a press release, while pledging to fulfill a “triple transition to positive impacts, both ecological, economic and solidarity”. For his part, the minister has received all of the actors in the case since mid-September, to “understand the positions of each other” and form its opinion on the subject.
The spectrum of a ZAD
In front, the opponents of the project have commenced, on the same day, a “market citizen”, Gonesse at Matignon, where they were to arrive this Saturday afternoon. Many groups have swelled the ranks of participants: the CGT, the association France nature environnement, member of parliament (BIA) Seine Saint Denis, Clémentine Autain, mep (EELV) Karima Delli, the senator (EELV) Esther Benbassa… Objective: to bring the executive to “sound silence”, and require the government to “the abandonment of EuropaCity and its train station and the opening of a consultation on the future of the last agricultural land in the vicinity of Paris”. “Their model is totally outdated […] This great shopping center EuropaCity is a caricature of the most dangerous in the design of the development of the territory”, thus said the elected (BIA) in Paris, Danielle Simonnet.
For Bernard Wolf, between iconic project, the announcements of the conglomerate, Friday, “don’t change anything on the bottom.” “They’re trying to justify the continuation of their project, but this is a greenwashing: we, we don’t want to offset the carbon emissions, we want to avoid them!”, comments the chairman of the group for the triangle de Gonesse in Figaro . The collective is hoping to get a definitive abandonment of the project, and puts forward his own proposal for development of the territory, with “Carma”, a “Cooperation for the ambition of agricultural, rural and metropolitan of the future”.
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opponents have received the support of other associations speaking out against the “major projects and useless imposed”, trade union representatives and elected officials. Received by Elizabeth Terminal last month, Bernard Wolf greet “listen” to the minister, but he is waiting on a firm footing a political stance on this issue is explosive. “We hope that Emmanuel Macron will take a decision in accordance with his declarations in favour of the climate,” he added, ceasing support for this project.
The collective promises that he will do “everything” to prevent the passage of EuropaCity. Leaves to see a “ZAD” emerge on the site: “there is nothing to say that she would be on the same model as the Notre-Dame-des-Landes, but it is necessary to suspend the more quickly the construction of the gare du Triangle de Gonesse”, under penalty of seeing the protests grow, he warns. For the opponents, in effect, the time is still in the negotiation and modification of the project. Once the station is built, it will be too late to prevent the urbanization of this area.
