The scenario feared by the CGT therefore ended up coming true.
The former Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, and the former CEO of Orange, Stéphane Richard, have been appointed to the large maritime port of Marseille (GPMM), according to the Official Journal (JO) on Tuesday, opening the way to the election of a president that has been awaited for months.
They were appointed by order of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, in the college of qualified personalities of the Supervisory Board of the port of the second city of France, in the same way as Laurence Borie Bancel, who is at the head of the National Company of Rhône (CNR), details the OJ.
They were appointed because of “their skills”, which were not explained.
On February 4, the Marseille businessman Xavier Giocanti had already been appointed by the government.
“Favouritism” and “parachuting” for the CGT
Since December 2020 and the premature death of Jean-Marc Forneri, the presidency of the GPMM had been held on an interim basis by Élisabeth Ayrault, the predecessor of Laurence Borie Bancel at the CNR.
But she had let it be known that the interim had lasted too long and this situation had aroused the annoyance of local authorities, starting with the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Renaud Muselier (ex-LR).
The election of the new president of the port should take place during the next Supervisory Board, on November 25.
From the end of September, the CGT was worried about a possible appointment of Christophe Castaner, ex-leader of the LREM deputies, at the head of the GPMM, seeing it as "favouritism" and "parachuting" after his bitter failure in the legislative elections.
For the majority union on the port, “port activities need economic actors centered on reality, who contribute to the economic development of the territory, who are part of it over time, with an industrial and social aim”.
After the turbulence due to Covid-19, passenger activity has seen a significant recovery since the start of the year at the port of Marseille-Fos, despite growing local mobilization against the polluting cruise industry, driven in particular by the mayor from Marseille, Benoît Payan (union of the left, Marseille Spring).
The rest of the port's activities are subject to current upheavals and economic uncertainties, with freight traffic supported by post-Covid consumption in the first half of 2022, but very contrasting energy-related activities.