The BO and Aguiléra, once again at the center of the debates of the municipal council this Monday, January 31 in Biarritz. In question: the announcement to install a sports training center at the Hippodrome des Fleurs, last week. But also, the hot water cut in Aguiléra from this Tuesday, February 1st. A second point which may seem futile but which is synonymous with the state of relations between the Biarritz club and the City.
While supporters and the president of the club, Jean-Baptiste Aldigé, demonstrated in front of the Bellevue casino, ahead of the municipal council, the debate continued in the room during the sessions, between the majority and the opposition which n did not fail to underline “inconsistencies in decisions” of Mayor Maider Arostéguy. During the 2h30 of debatesno less than six elected officials will speak.
A project “done behind the back”
Jean-Baptiste Dussaussois-Larralde first, denouncing an indecent shared project, disconnected from reality, for two completely different subjects between pros and amateurs who will have to share premises and zero consultation with the associations. Before adding: “It’s a project done behind the back of the Olympic Biarritzfunny way to treat partners.” And to ask the question of the future of the Aguiléra district: “a plateau destined to become a residential area”.
Before the speeches of Patrick Destizon, Sébastien Carrère, Lysian Brao and Nathalie Motsch. The first, a former deputy now in the opposition, accusing Maider Arostéguy of “change your mind every morning” : “Pro rugby, the heart of Biarritz, cannot develop in constant uncertainty”. The third, Councilor Biarritz Euskal Herrian V&S, dropping: “this file is a model of non-participatory democracy. You made your voters dream with a peaceful Biarritz, but Biarritz was rather ablaze.”
“No longer a training center, but Disneyland, Polo-land!”
-Corinne Martineau
Nathalie Motsch, former head of the candidate list for mayor of the imperial city, emphasizing a 15/15 public-private agreement recorded, then zapped, drawing a parallel with the renewal of the Etxola Bibi concession, at the top of the Côte des Basques, for David Couzinet. The former player is also president of the amateur section of Biarritz Olympique. “A conflict of interest” for the former urban planning assistant in the previous mandate.
The most virulent on the subject was Corinne Martineau. “You are embezzling the 15 million envelope promised to the club”explained the elected opposition member, before mentioning a “hate against the leader of the BOPB, Jean-Baptiste Aldigé and a contempt for the hundreds of Biarritz voters and supporters”. The new training center? “Great nonsense!”. “The mayor was elected on a project, which she herself voted for in February 2020. Pro rugby in Biarritz is a cost but it is also an impact, and also more than a hundred families who live and consume with us. How do you expect a center that welcomes internationals, regionals, locals, a training center and a pro team to function properly? It’s impossible ! It’s no longer a training center, it’s Disneyland, it’s Polo-land!”
“Basta ya!” – Maider Arosteguy
And the mayor of Biarritz to defend herself. “It is public money that has saved the club in the past: it has had 6 million from the City since 2014. Our budget provides for 850,000 euros in services (denied to date by the club) and I’m still on the 15 million euros for the infrastructure. The club requested the guarantee of the City for half of its loans. We can’t because of our indebtedness.” And Xavier Delanne, the sports assistant at the City, to qualify: “this future sports center is not not the BOPB training center. It responds to a diagnosis, to the needs of the 71 high-level athletes licensed in Biarritz in nine different sports.
Regarding the relationship with the president of the club, the break is consummated. “I no longer listen to the words of Jean-Baptiste Aldigé, which have become more than inappropriate, indecent, insulting. You can’t treat elected officials that way. We cannot manage this City with the sole compass of Jean-Baptiste Aldigé’s desires and needs.”
As for the hot water affair, cut off this Tuesday morning in Aguiléra, the mayor is defending herself. “I cannot let it be said that the City is cutting off the hot water. The first warning that the City was going to stop charging Biarrots for this dates from the previous mandate, in 2019. Today, the club refuses despite reminders from pay his bills. Everyone will have to pay what they owe, including lawn care, maybe. And we want people to believe that if La Rochelle will only have cold water in the locker rooms, it’s the mayor’s fault. It’s wrong. You can’t shut up when you hear that. Basta ya!” Before finishing : “I am not not the gravedigger of the soundtrack and the BO cannot live only through the Gave and Aldigé. He lived before the Gave and I hope he will live the Gave.”