In Côtes-d’Armor, 15 mayors summoned before the administrative court of Rennes

The department’s prefect has taken legal action to request the nullity of a decree that these elected officials took at the beginning of June, in which they asked the State to put in place an emergency health plan.

Fifteen mayors of Côtes-d’Armor are summoned to appear before the administrative court on Tuesday, September 3, France Bleu Breizh Izel reported on Friday. The department’s prefect has taken the matter to court to request the nullity of a decree that these elected officials issued at the beginning of June. In this text, the mayors order the State to implement an emergency health plan, under penalty of a penalty of 1,000 euros per day.

To take this decision, the mayors are asserting their administrative police powers, which aim to ensure public order is respected, “access to health and human dignity”, explains Vincent Le Meaux, mayor of Pouëc-du-Trieux and president of Guingamp-Paimpol Communauté. Like other Breton territories, the Côtes-d’Armor department lacks doctors, hospitals are struggling to recruit, emergencies are regularly regulated and the maternity ward in Guingamp is, for example, closed at least until October.

While elected officials regret the State’s legal response, the hearing on Tuesday, September 3 before the administrative court of Rennes may allow a real dialogue to be opened. Philippe Le Goff, the mayor of Guingamp, hopes for two things: “The first is that, in principle, before this type of hearing in court, we can also request mediation.”the elected official confided to France Bleu Breizh Izel. “The idea, he continues, It is also about getting the State to take into consideration this neglect of health in the territory and to know how we can find effective solutions.”

The two mayors interviewed above all wish to open the dialogue. “In a way, it is interesting that the administrative judge can engage us in a structured, ordered negotiation discourse, with deadlines”, considers the socialist Vincent Le Meaux. The mayor of Plouëc-du-Trieux recalls that in Guingamp, “We need a perspective for the reopening of the maternity ward, in Lannion, in Saint-Brieuc, we need to improve the opening of the emergency ward”, the chosen one recites.

“We need answersinsists Vincent Le Meaux, So if the administrative judge of Rennes finally allows us to have a republican dialogue between the mayors and the Regional Health Agency (ARS), that would perhaps already be a first step”he says.