Canua Island: suite.
Marc Audineau, co-founder of the project has just sent an open letter to the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron. A letter that he describes as a “cry of anger”.
“Let the contractors work!” he insists in the introduction, “I represented my country, France, in sailing at the Athens Olympic Games, with pride, after having been world No. 1. I was proud 7 years ago to engage in entrepreneurship in France on an innovative project, a world first, on the sea, my DNA, by launching a restaurant ship, a place of relaxation, open to all on the Côte d’Azur.” he explains.
Before describing the project and then engaging in ten points: “1. We have been encouraged for 7 years by all the state services (Ministry of the Sea, Maritime Prefecture, Cities of the Alpes Maritimes, etc.). 2. We have received the support of the State, via the Banque Publique d’Investissement (BPI), which is present in the capital of the company, alongside many 100% French entrepreneurs 3. The BPI has also provided guarantees for the bank loans that we have taken out with 4 French banks for €5M 4. We also had the support of the PACA Region through guarantees for our bank loans 5. We met several times with all the administrations that validated our ship, which complies in all respects with maritime law.6 We invested and launched the construction.7. We got through the Covid period, not without difficulty.8. Personally, after the COVID, I had to reinvest money in the project and sell my house.9. In total, all the entrepreneurs have invested more than €16 million in this eco-responsible boat. 10. We created 100 direct jobs and 300 indirect jobs.”
Today, a few days before the opening, Marc Audineau regrets that “this same country whose colors I proudly wore, decides to abandon this project, only because a local elected official (Editor’s note: he is talking about the President of the Region, Renaud Muselier) pretends to brandish the environmental weapon, while his only goal is to settle accounts with a mayor of his region.”
He insists: “CANUA pollutes much less than all the other motorized vessels in the Mediterranean, because this boat ticks all the boxes of ecological transition and even goes beyond.”
Validations blocked by the Secretary of State for the Sea
“So yes, I’m ashamed of my country”he continues, “and of these elected officials who supported me yesterday, encouraged to invest, to undertake, pushed to sell my house to finance the project, to put my wife and my 3 children in danger… to hire 100 employees to have to lay them off tomorrow …and who today are turning their backs on us….and preventing us from launching our activity…And today, when our ship is ready to be exploited, we are blocked because Mr. Secretary of State à la Mer blocks the validation of the Navigation Permit and the Armament Permit, by “taking the time for the instruction”, while the ship is compliant and we have received the report from the Ship Safety Commission. We can’t wait any longer, because we have a seasonal activity and we will have to lay off our employees. 100 direct and 200 indirect jobs are concerned…300 families affected. Are we in a state of law? Why does France treat its own entrepreneurs this way? How can you say YES for 6 years to job creators, let them go into debt for 16M€, and today say NO to them??
And he concludes: “Mr. President, so that France does not abandon a project in which it has invested a lot of money, so that France does not sacrifice nearly 300 jobs, so that France does not favor political grub for the benefit of the law, so that France does not let millions of euros in VAT, corporate tax, employers’ contributions to come escape, so that France does not give a very bad signal to entrepreneurs and innovators in this country, please let us work. We don’t want to be the collateral victims of local political disputes. Let us work, otherwise we will die!”