Ln December 7, in the Council of Ministers, a decree dismissing the prefect of Indre-et-Loire, Marie Lajus, was signed.
The astonishment caused by this news was coupled with total incomprehension when, in the chained ducké of December 14 then in The free Charente, we learned of the first elements that would have motivated this decision. The prefect Marie Lajus would have been sacked for having enforced town planning law in a real estate project case. It is thus a profound injustice that we, citizens attached to the respect of the law, have discovered: the desire to give priority to particular interests over the general interest, even when it has the force of law.
What are we actually talking about? An incubator project aimed at bringing together start-ups and researchers, which its promoter would like to build in the park of the Louise de La Vallière castle, in Reugny (Indre-et-Loire). However, since the planned installation area is wooded and close to a historic monument, it cannot be built on, both under the terms of the town planning code and with regard to the principles of Climate and resilience law of 2021. Intending to prioritize economic benefits over environmental protection, some elected officials considered ignoring the law by trying to make the land constructible.
Faced with this situation, what did the prefect of Indre-et-Loire do? What all the prefects and prefects of France would have done: exercise their role of guarantor of respect for the law. The prefect Marie Lajus would thus have advised the elected officials concerned that, if they managed to make this building land, the legality of this decision would be attacked by the services of the State. The dissatisfaction of elected officials ready to ignore respect for the law would therefore have led, by ways that escape us, to the disembarkation without notice or new assignment of the prefect Marie Lajus.
Impartiality and humanity
Marie Lajus is a prefect whose professionalism is unanimously praised in the territories where she has had to practice. Through her impartiality, probity and humanity, she embodies what society expects of the State.
We affirm our full and complete support for Marie Lajus and, through her, for those who work on a daily basis to respect the law. Because ensuring respect for the law is the condition of our freedom, it is to allow equality and the protection of all, it is to guarantee the effectiveness of our democracy.
Actors of civil society, civil servants and elected representatives of the territories where Marie Lajus worked, we cannot believe that, challenged on this injustice, the President of the Republic does not undertake to restore the honor and the coherence of the State in taking the necessary measures.
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