A69: Senate broadly adopts text for resumption of motorway construction

The Senate largely adopted an unusual text on Thursday, May 15, in an attempt to obtain by law the resumption of work on the Toulouse-Castres motorway, which had been suspended by the administrative courts, despite serious legal questions and opposition from environmentalists.

Supported by 252 votes for and 33 votes against in the upper house, this so-called "validation" bill, brought forward by senators from Tarn and whose conformity with the Constitution is questioned, is now transmitted to the National Assembly which will examine it from June 2, while the procedure before the administrative courts continues.

Pro-A69 elected officials are therefore engaging in a showdown in Parliament. Will the parliamentarians succeed in short-circuiting the legal proceedings surrounding the project? The two senators from Tarn, Marie-Lise Housseau and Philippe Folliot, who launched this initiative, have in any case achieved an initial victory.

"We are doing our job as parliamentarians by proposing a way out to put an end to this absurd situation and put an end to this waste," Philippe Folliot said to justify this initiative. The approach aims to allow parliamentarians to "take back control" after the Toulouse administrative court cancelled the construction permit for this 53 km section of motorway, leading to the suspension of the work that began in 2023.

Concretely, this involves having two decrees relating to the environmental authorisation of the project "validated" by law, on the grounds that it meets an imperative reason of major public interest (RIIPM), necessary to justify in the eyes of justice the damage caused to the environment by such a project.

The Senate is thus responding to "an emergency situation" to "avoid the dramatic consequences of stopping the project," stressed Horizons Senator Franck Dhersin, rapporteur of the text. Indeed, the text's supporters are calling for the "opening up" of a basin of around 100,000 people (Castres-Mazamet) and want to give prospects to local economic players.

However, according to Marie-Lise Housseau, stopping the project, which was due to be completed in 2025 , would cause "irreparable damage both economically and psychologically for this department (Tarn, editor's note) which feels humiliated, despised and denied its development choices."

But beyond the merits of the A69 project, the most heated debates concerned the form of this initiative, with serious questions raised about its conformity with the Constitution. "The legislator is creating a serious precedent by attempting to influence a Court of Justice," warned environmentalist Jacques Fernique, criticizing an initiative that "gives priority to political will over the rule of law."

On the other hand, the supporters of the text defended their approach by meticulously listing the numerous "compelling reasons of general interest" which, according to them, demonstrate the text's conformity with the fundamental law: socio-economic, political, environmental, relating to public finances or even road safety.

But some legislators were unable to hide their discomfort with the unusual format of the bill, which was debated just days before the Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal examined a first appeal against the work stoppage on May 21.

"We must not proceed on a case-by-case basis," acknowledged the communist Jean-Pierre Corbisez, who was in favor. The Senate "is sending a confusing message, that of a Parliament that would intervene to save a project in legal difficulty," added the socialist Hervé Gillé, whose group did not participate in the vote despite some support from Occitan senators.

Although several ministers have welcomed the initiative in recent days, the government has not officially taken a position before the Senate, preferring a "wise opinion" so as "not to interfere in the ongoing legal proceedings, nor in parliamentary work" , explained the Minister of Transport Philippe Tabarot.

But "the government's position on the necessity of this motorway is no longer in doubt," he was careful to point out. Opponents of the text will also probably remain a minority in the National Assembly, but their troops there are still sufficient to refer the matter to the Constitutional Council with a view to obtaining the text's censure. "The Council will obviously be notified," confirmed Green Senator Ronan Dantec, who denounced "a posturing law."