The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional audit office was surprised by Laurent Wauquiez’s catering expenses, particularly the cost of his Parisian lunches. Le Républicain said he was prepared to reimburse the sums.
Laurent Wauquiez, LR president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, criticized by the regional audit office (CRC) for expensive Parisian meals, said he was ready to reimburse the “excessive sums”, in a press release sent to AFP on Friday August 2.
The cost of these meals was revealed by the regional daily The Dauphiné Libéré, which has exclusively obtained the report of the regional auditors on the external communication of the Aura Region, expected in the autumn. Contacted by the AFP, the CRC refused to comment on an unpublished document. According to the daily, this report highlights an “amalgamation between the president of the Regional Council and the regional authority” which “can lead to incurring expenses that are not solely motivated by institutional communication logic”.
“Work, including meal times”
Among its grievances, the Chamber “is surprised by Laurent Wauquiez’s catering expenses, in particular his numerous lunches in Paris with deputies, senators and journalists”, writes Le Dauphiné Libéré, citing total amounts of 77,180 euros for the year 2022 and 45,988 euros in 2023. The daily highlights a dinner at 1,248 euros in March 2022 with the writer Michel Houellebecq.
In its press release to AFP, the Region refers to “work sessions, including during meals”, noting that out of all of these “work sessions organized over the last five years, the chamber makes recommendations on 15 meals”. Quoted in this press release, Laurent Wauquiez assures that he was “not informed of the cost of these meals”.
“When I learned about it, I considered it not normal. So I decided to personally ensure the reimbursement of the excessive sums.”
“At no time did the Regional Audit Office note any irregularities in the Region’s communications expenditure,” the press release emphasizes.
“Indecent practices”
For the regional green opposition, this is a “new affair” for Laurent Wauquiez, after the “summit dinners”. The Socialist, Green and Democrat group demands in a press release that the promise of reimbursement be “honoured without delay” and criticises “unacceptable practices, indecent in view of the difficulties of many citizens of our region”, testifying to “a total loss of the sense of the common good”.
The Region, for its part, says it is “very determined” to follow the auditors’ “useful proposals” to improve management, while stressing that the report highlights “many good practices”. “Communication expenditure in euros per inhabitant is among the lowest of all the communities audited”, representing less than 1% of the budget, according to its press release.
Concerning two expensive dinners, called “summits”, the Chamber points to an organization that is “not very transparent” and “with the main aim of promoting the personal image of the President of the Region”, according to the report of the Dauphiné Libéré. The PNF has been investigating since the end of 2022 a dinner organized in June 2022 and at the same time the possibly fictitious jobs of 18 mission managers of the Regional Council. Laurent Wauquiez, elected deputy at the beginning of July, chairs the parliamentary group the Republican Right (ex-LR) and is preparing to give up his functions at the Regional Council to comply with the texts on the accumulation of mandates.
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With AFP