Can the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region cut its subsidies to Grenoble after the authorization to wear the burkini?

The president Les Républicains (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, announced on Monday May 16 cease « immediately any subsidy to the town hall of Grenoble » after the city council gave the green light on Monday to wearing the burkini in municipal swimming pools. The vote related specifically to the modification of the internal rules of the swimming pools, which now provides that the length of swimsuits will no longer be limited and will thus allow women to swim topless, and all swimmers, to wear a swimsuit specific to swimming. that can cover the arms and legs. A new regulation which de facto authorizes the wearing of the covering jersey popular with certain Muslim women and which has been demanded for several years by the association Citizen Alliance.

To justify the end of aid to the ecological town hall, Laurent Wauquiez says he relies on the « charter for the defense of the values ​​of France and secularism » and on the « republican commitment contract » adopted by his region during its plenary assembly on March 17. “We are going to stop helping financially [le maire de Grenoble] Mr. Piolle, because the reality is that his project is not a project that is compatible with what we want for France and for the Republic”justified the regional president on France Bleu Isère on Tuesday.

A hasty announcement

In reality, the announcement of Laurent Wauquiez seems a little hasty. Far from ceasing “immediately any subsidy”, the cessation of aid from the region to Grenoble could in fact only concern possible subsidies for future projects and not the financing already voted and committed to the municipality. The region says it is in the process of identifying said aid.

« The region would take a significant legal risk if it decided to cut the funding to which it has already committed »

For Aloïs Ramel, lawyer specializing in public authority law« the region would take a significant legal risk if it decided to cut the funding on which it has already committed to the town hall ». Especially if the principle of secularism invoked has no direct link with the projects initially financed. “As for future subsidies, the region has a certain latitude of decision. A community is never forced to pay a subsidy”adds M.^and ramel:

“It is still relatively framed, it must not undermine the principle of equality between municipalities for similar projects, for example. But after all, if she no longer wants to award a subsidy to the city of Grenoble and she motivates him, the region is almost free. »

In any case, the suspension of subsidies in Grenoble would not concern the region’s own skills, such as high schools or transport, sectors for which it is responsible. “We will continue on our side to carry out our mission in Grenoble, said Mr. Wauquiez on Tuesday. We will obviously continue to help the inhabitants of Grenoble, associations, craftsmen or merchants who have projects. »

Currently, the region’s direct subsidies to contracted municipal projects represent “about 1.5 million euros”according to the town hall of Grenoble, which denounces a « disengagement » already underway of the regional council in the fields of culture, health, the environment, aid for businesses and communities.

Véronique Vermorel, regional opposition councilor and member of the Les Ecologistes group, believes that « the debate on the burkini is a pretext for the LR majority in the region to reduce subsidies ». “If this announcement of the end of subsidies is symbolic for the town hall of Grenoble, it is the tree that hides the forest from the cuts taking place everywhere on projects carried out by opposition town halls, such as Lyon , Grenoble or Clermont-Ferrand »she complains.