Amazon, French battles 1/3
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First part of our series on the American giant. This has accelerated its establishment in France since the start of the pandemic, but it is not going smoothly. In Brétigny-sur-Orge, mayors, however well disposed towards the company, were disillusioned after the announcement of a data center project very poor in jobs.
Eric Braive immediately warns: he is not a geek. The various left mayor of Leuville-sur-Orge did “Not Twitter, not Facebook” and “Never order on the Internet”, he said, arm crossed on a fine puffer jacket, Parisian accent and strong opinions. Sitting at his desk, in front of a large map of his chosen territory, the president of the Cœur d’Essonne agglomeration, 21 municipalities and 200,000 inhabitants, waltzes from side to side his swivel chair, the half-grumpy, half-ironic air: “I must be vintage. I am attached to the word given. ” And to hear it, keeping promises is not Amazon’s strong suit. “Our example shows that there is neither partnership nor trust with them, Eric Braive slice. There is no collective work, where they are established. ”
The mayor of Plessis-Pâté, a neighboring municipality of Leuville and member of Cœur d’Essonne, agrees: “From the moment we growl, the door with Amazon closes, notes Sylvain Tanguy. More sound, more image. But in France, large-scale projects cannot be done without local communities. We are not in a country so liberal that companies can do what they want or in a developing country where we are ready to accept everything. In France, we don’t like to be taken for pheasants. ”
The object of the shared annoyance of the two city councilors is the about-face of the American distribution giant. Amazon set up in 2019 in the env …