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Wednesday, 14 March 2007 |
Vauzelle victorious
Michel Vauzelle, president of the PACA regional council, has
long been known as a doughty political negotiator. His
reputation can only have been enhanced by his efforts to improve
the contents of the investment programme for 2007-2013. As
reported here last November, Vauzelle was scathing of the
programme first proposed by the government, which he
complained did little for improved communications, nothing for
agriculture, tourism, solidarity, job creation or training.
Now he has announced triumphantly that the final
programme includes an increase of €140m (21%) in state aid.
This figure includes €40m for transport links, including the
Turin-Marseille rail line and the long-awaited reopening of the
Carnoules-Gardanne and Carpentras-Avignon lines. There is also
€33m for research and higher education, €11m for improving
water supplies, €9m to help agricultural sectors currently in
difficulty and €12m for welfare programmes.
This increase, the highest achieved for any region in France,
Michel Vauzelle attributes to the support from all interested
parties, regardless of political affiliations, who showed solidarity
in the face of a government bent on cost-cutting rather than
investment. To that extent, it is, he says, a victory for everyone in
the PACA region.
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