A69: Senators meeting in committee adopt the bill to force through and legalize the work

Determined to resume construction of the Castres-Toulouse motorway, senators from Tarn achieved their first success on Wednesday, May 7, with the Senate committee's adoption of a bill making the work legal again. The Upper House's Regional Planning Committee, meeting in the morning, overwhelmingly adopted the bill proposed by centrist senators Philippe Folliot and Marie-Lise Housseau. The public session, the first major meeting for these parliamentarians in favor of the A69 motorway project, is scheduled for May 15.

The initiative, brought identically to the National Assembly by the Tarn deputies Jean Terlier (Renaissance) and Philippe Bonnecarrère (non-attached), aims to allow parliamentarians to "take back control", after the Toulouse administrative court cancelled at the end of February the authorization to build this 53 km section of motorway, leading to the suspension of the work started in 2023. Concretely, it is a question of having the law recognize that this work 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 work.

"The mother of all battles will be played out in the chamber (Thursday, May 15), but this broad adoption is indicative of the general incomprehension that reigns" after the suspension of the work, Philippe Folliot reacted to the AFP, who hopes that this text will allow "to get out of this absurd situation." Nearly a hundred senators from several groups co-signed the bill.

In a right-leaning upper house, the bill's adoption appears certain to be a given next week. On Wednesday, in committee, it was a formality: only a handful of left-wing MPs—Greens and Communists—opposed the bill. The Socialists, divided, did not participate in the vote at this stage, AFP learned from several members of the Senate committee.

Some on the left are concerned about the initiative "circumventing" the judicial process. Environmental activists who have long fought against the project have also denounced it, denouncing it as an "attack on the separation of powers."

"The legislature is fully within its role, which is to reconcile environmental protection with economic and social progress. We are responding here to an emergency situation to prevent the dramatic consequences of a project halt for the territory and public finances," dismissed the Horizons rapporteur of the text, Franck Dhersin. The latter also warned of the cost of suspending the work , "between 170 and 180,000 euros per day" according to his estimate.

Following the Senate's review and the likely adoption of the text at first reading, the Macronist group in the National Assembly, Together for the Republic, has chosen to include the text on a day reserved for its proposals, on June 2, according to sources within the parliamentary group. The aim is to secure adoption in line with the Senate version for rapid entry into force.

At the same time, the Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal will examine on May 21st an initial appeal against the work stoppage, seeking a "stay of execution" of the administrative court's judgment. This means the motorway concessionaire can continue work pending the hearing of the appeal filed by the State, which is not expected to take place for several months.