Le Figaro Bordeaux
Yesterday's convictions are not always those of today.
A former elected official of the majority, dismissed for having favored the purchase of works of art from her companion by the town hall, has just joined the benches of the opposition group Bordeaux Ensemble on Tuesday.
This same group which, at the time, denounced facts "
of particular gravity
" and reported them to the public prosecutor.
The case is already a few years old.
In June 2020, ecologist Pierre Hurmic was elected mayor of Bordeaux.
Present on her list, Pascale Roux becomes a municipal councilor in charge of international relations.
As part of a renewal of the stock of gifts for foreign visitors, the elected official offers various purchases of works of art by the city.
Among the proposals, lithographs by the artist Pierre Lafage, acquired for an amount of 1900 euros.
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In 2021, an investigation by the general inspectorate revealed, however, that the artist in question, Pierre Lafage, was none other than the companion of Pascale Roux, leading to a procedure for the restitution and reimbursement of these works of art purchased by the city and the dismissal of Pascale Roux by Pierre Hurmic from the municipal majority.
An “error” made “in an emergency”
At the time, the opposition group Bordeaux Ensemble, chaired by the former mayor of Bordeaux Nicolas Florian, published a press release, considering that "
these facts, proven insofar as they have been publicly recognized by the main interest, appear to us to be particularly serious in that they concern public money [...] and that they cast shame on all elected officials
".
Members of the right-wing and center opposition then criticized a behavior considered as “
countering the lessons of morality and public virtue dispensed by the Greens for a long time
”.
However, Pascale Roux and Nicolas Florian denounce today "
dysfunctions
" and a "
failure of the political framework
".
The elected explains that she is "
young in politics
" and regrets that this affair "
has taken on disproportionate proportions
".
Pascale Roux also believes that she was "
totally abandoned
" by the municipality, for a simple "
error made
".
She claims that at the time, in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, she would have recommended, “
in an emergency
”, works that she knew.
This Tuesday, Nicolas Florian publicly regrets that Pascale Roux has been struck with such "
municipal indignity
" and specifies that her arrival in the Bordeaux Ensemble group "
is not there to cultivate bitterness, revenge or settling scores
" .
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On the side of the town hall of Bordeaux, it is recalled that, for the sake of ethics, Pascale Roux could not remain a member of the municipal majority, but as an elected official, she could not be removed from office either by the mayor.
Since 2021, the municipal councilor has therefore sat without membership.
The chance of the arrangement of the chairs in the council room helping, Pascale Roux found herself sitting alongside the elected opposition representatives Nicolas Pereira and Guillaume Chaban-Delmas, both members of Bordeaux Ensemble.
A geographical rapprochement that ended up being transformed, more than a year later, into collaboration.
