AFP, published on Tuesday 20 December 2022 at 22:22
Jean Rottner, who had gained a national audience during the health crisis as a former emergency room doctor, unexpectedly announced his imminent departure on Tuesday due to “family imperatives” of the presidency of the Grand Est region and “public life” in general .
“Family imperatives animate this heavy decision”, which is “maturely thought out”, declared the former mayor of Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) in a press release. He will leave “all (his) mandates by the end of the year”.
Rottner (LR), 55, had headed Grand Est since 2017, when he succeeded Philippe Richert, who resigned. He was then elected in 2021.
The first vice-president of the Grand Est region, Franck Leroy, mayor of Epernay (Marne), will assume the interim of this region, which since 2015 has brought together Alsace, Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne.
Within a month there should be a new election within the regional council for the presidency. Without waiting, RN advisor Laurent Jacobelli applied.
The Grand Est regional council has already learned in October of the resignation of one of its vice-presidents, the mayor of Reims Arnaud Robinet, elected president of the Hospitaller Federation of France (FHF). The mayor of LR of Charleville-Mézières, Boris Ravignon, is also expected to resign from his vice-presidency as his appointment as head of the Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) has just been validated.
– Alsace vs Grand Orient –
The election of Eric Ciotti at the head of LR ten days ago had spread the rumor of a possible removal from his party of Jean Rottner, who has always managed the dialogue with the macronists and whose name has repeatedly circulated as a potential minister. In an interview with L’Opinion in early November, he heard “that the party will break up”.
However, he had refused any alliance in the regional elections with Brigitte Klinkert, a former LR who is also an Alsatian engaged in the macronist camp. In the presidential elections you were also part of Valérie Pécresse’s electoral team. “In a political world of betrayal and cowardice, you held high the values of commitment and loyalty!” flattered the president of the Ile-de-France region.
Jean Rottner’s entry into politics dates back to 2001 when he became opposition city councilor in Mulhouse, a city then led by the socialist Jean-Marie Bockel, who gave him the position of mayor in 2010.
In 2017, his ascent to leadership of the Grand Est region after the departure of Philippe Richert earned him harsh criticism in Alsace, where most right-wing elected officials, and himself at first, opposed the constitution of this new region.
– “Institutional Monster” –
Jean Rottner then became a fervent defender, refusing to support attempts to restore Alsace’s “independence” from Grand Est. The announcement of his resignation did not fail to put a dime in the machine.
“Jean Rottner’s resignation destabilizes the community and brings its share of questions about the consideration of Alsatian issues,” considered EELV Alsace.
“Until Alsace leaves Grand Est, its presidency will be an impossible exercise. (…) We must now review the profile of this too large region”, insisted the mayor of Colmar, Éric Straumann, while emphasizing that he “always had a lot of respect for Jean Rottner”.
The Alsatian regionalist party Unser Land delivered a sarcastic “Christmas ahead of time”. Jean Rottner “put all his zeal, his cynicism and his surgical coldness to give life to this institutional monster that is the Grand Est”, said Jean-Georges Trouillet, president of the party.
Lacking notoriety having come to head the region without initially topping the list, Jean Rottner has gained much in stature with the Covid-19 crisis, which has thrust him into the spotlight at the same time his first outbreak was reported in Mulhouse, his hometown, in early 2020.
Lending a hand in regulating Samu during the first wave of the epidemic, he soon turned into a whistleblower, warning the Elysée of hospital strain, struggling to get masks and tests back, or launching business support funds.
