Macron vows cash for drug crime-wracked Marseille

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday he would double state funding for upgrading transport in the country's troubled second city Marseille, where 23 have been killed in drug gang turf wars so far this year.

"Everything has to move still faster" in Marseille, Macron told regional daily La Provence as he began a three-day visit to the Mediterranean port city whose regeneration is one of his pet projects.

The trip comes as Macron pushes to move the political conversation on from his bitterly opposed pension reform raising the retirement age to 64, which brought millions out in multiple nationwide protests.

France's second-largest city after Paris but also one of its poorest, Marseille suffers from lacking infrastructure and tens of thousands of units of poorly-maintained social housing, mostly concentrated in the city's northern neighborhoods where the drug trade is endemic.

Macron in September 2021 promised five billion euros ($5.5 billion) to hire new police, renovate schools and public spaces and upgrade the creaking public transport network, which is far less dense than in Paris.

The president said Monday that funding for transport projects in Marseille's northern districts had been "especially increased" as he announced an overall doubling to 500 million euros.

Without naming any names, he also accused local officials of "procrastinating", urging them instead to "think really big".

Socialist mayor Benoit Payan has said still more resources are needed to tackle Marseille's crippling problems.

Macron will visit police, a primary school undergoing renovation, an under-construction prison and a hospital during his stay, as well as meeting local people.

He may also further detail his plans to boost traffic along the Rhone river, linking Marseille's huge ocean port to Lyon and ultimately Germany.

Hoping to address the drug trade more directly, Macron also said work was underway for police officers to collect immediate fines from users in cash or by bank card, as most currently go unpaid.

Law enforcement will be reinforced with more riot police later this year.

And the president is expected to detail plans to renovate privately-owned blocks of flats.

"It's dirty here, there are rats, there's dealing, no garden for the kids, no doctors, no work, everything works through connections," complained Ahmad Kaddour, 57, in the Castellane housing estate.

While some die-hard pensions protesters banging their signature pots and pans may yet greet Macron, he will also face a court clerks' strike and a demonstration by the hard-left CGT union during his visit.

 

AFP