Two mayors of Meurthe-et-Moselle, whose municipalities were badly affected by the riots at the beginning of summer, are asking the State for help after the termination of their insurance contracts. “What I am raising is a cry of alarm,” said Serge de Carli, PCF mayor of Mont-Saint-Martin, who recently visited the Ministry of Economy and Finance, on Wednesday. He calls for “state intervention, a bill, to not leave communities uninsured.”
Like Laurent García, his Laxou counterpart, the elected official received a certified letter from Groupama at the end of August informing them of the non-renewal of their insurance contracts on January 1, 2024. The letter does not indicate the reason, but it was sent just weeks after riots that caused significant damage to their communities. “It’s a scandal,” commented Serge de Carli.
Town hall looted, school damaged, dozens of vehicles burned… Damage is estimated between 2.4 and 2.8 million euros in Mont-Saint-Martin. The city of 10,000 inhabitants located on the Belgian-Luxembourg border is looking for a new insurer, but the elected representative highlights that “the risk is great of tomorrow having a contract with a degraded service and with quotes and deductibles that increase exponentially.”
An exceptional envelope or a Grenelle des assurances
In Laxou (14,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of Nancy), the school and cultural center were attacked by rioters, causing damage estimated at 30,000 euros that the insurer does not want to pay. Mayor Laurent García also “fulminated” when reading Groupama’s letter. “At a time when we need solidarity, it hurts to receive one more blow from the bottle…” In order not to degrade the quality of these services, the City Council has decided to start these renovations, even if this means postponing other works and modifying the municipality’s budgets.
The councilor called Françoise Souliman, prefect of the department, and expects from the State “either an exceptional endowment to finance the contributions, or a Grenelle insurance under the authority of the Minister of Finance.” On Monday, during a question session at the departmental council, Françoise Souliman said she shared the “concern” of elected officials.
When asked, Groupama Grand Est did not want to answer our questions. Christophe Lezzeri, director of companies and communities at Groupama Grand Est, explained to Republican Lorraine having to “ensure balance and perpetuate the portfolio on the number of municipalities we have in the region,” stating that the number of layoffs was “tiny.”
Source: BFM TV
