It was expected, it is now official. The State called on Monday of the stop of the 53 km highway site between Castres and Toulouse (A69), ordered by the Toulouse Administrative Court on February 27. This project, whose commissioning was scheduled for the end of 2025, is disputed by environmental movements.
“The State appealed the appeal of the decision (…) and at the same time asked for the stay of this decision in order to allow the rapid resumption of work on the site”, according to a declaration of the Ministry of Transport. “An appeal dedicated to failure, the State is being relentless against the interest of the territory,” reacted the path is free, a collective ecologist leading the sling since the start of the site in 2023.
Alice Terrasse, lawyer for opponents of the A69, told the Parisian “not really believe that the court will statue” in the direction of the ministry. “Asking a judge, in an emergency, to completely rebuild a file which took a year and a half to be educated seems difficult to me. As it seems difficult to conceive that the court decides to resume the work even though it did not rule on the merits. The logic wants us to expect a judgment on the merits, ”she continued.
“It is the credibility of the state that is played out”
On March 7, the Minister of Transport Philippe Tabarot said that this call would be “filed in the coming days”, in particular “to ask for a stay of execution”. He then estimated that the stopping of the site caused a “concrete and immediate economic disaster”. “We are determined that the site is carried out well,” he said. For him, this project is “essential to open up the Tarn”, and “it is the credibility of the state that is played out”.
Justice had canceled the prefectural decree authorizing the site on February 27, putting it to the stop. The work had then been suspended immediately. The Toulouse administrative court had considered that there was no “imperative necessity to achieve it” or “imperative reason for major public interest”, making it possible to derogate “the objective of conservation of natural habitats, wild fauna and flora”. He had been seized by environmental associations.