"Charlatan": the left attacks Wauquiez, who cuts aid to Lyon 2 University

On Wednesday, May 7, former president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and now Republican presidential candidate Laurent Wauquiez announced that the local authority was suspending all aid to Lyon 2 University, which he denounces for its " Islamo-leftist " tendencies.

A measure that has sparked the ire of left-wing elected officials, notably Green Party MP Marie-Charlotte Garin, who denounced the invention of an " academic opinion crime ." " Will teachers and students have to prove their political alignment to keep the lights on? "

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Anaïs Belouassa Cherifi, a member of the La France Insoumise party for Lyon, also reacted: " Wauquiez strikes again: he punishes the public university Lyon 2 for purely ideological reasons... but spends €870,000 of public money on private schools outside the contract! Academic freedom is worth more than the low-horse race of the Republican Congress. "

His colleague, also a member of parliament for the Rhône, Abdelkader Lahmar, calls Laurent Wauquiez a charlatan. " Diverting the law against multiple mandates to combine a seat as a member of parliament with the presidency of a region? Laurent Wauquiez says yes (...) Using public funds to finance emancipation through universities? That's a no ," he chokes. And concludes: " Laurent Wauquiez is an opponent of everything the Republic seeks to build that is just, universal, and secular. "

The Green senator for the Rhône, Thomas Dossus, asks: " Has (Laurent Wauquiez) become regional president again? He doesn't even bother with his puppet Fabrice Pannekoucke anymore ." He adds: " From the United States to France, the reactionary offensive is attacking knowledge and science head-on." The Socialist group on the regional council, for its part, denounces "an unacceptable decision that will penalize thousands of young people, without distinction ." It calls on " the executive to come to its senses (...) by urgently restoring regional aid " paid to universities.

For the record, the Region's decision follows the invasion of a university lecture hall by a group of masked individuals. Wauquiez had regretted the university president's lack of support for Professor Balanche, also an LR elected representative in Caluire, who had spoken out on television to explain his opposition to an evening of breaking the fast during Ramadan organized, within the university itself, by the Lyon2 Autonome student group claiming to be "anti-France," denouncing at the same time " Islamo-leftism " at Lyon 2.

Contacted to find out the estimated amount of funding involved, the Region indicated that " the financial impact of the moratorium is significant: nearly 19 million euros ." It mainly concerns payments for projects contracted under the State-Region Plan Contract with a suspension of 18.5 million euros in payments, including 3.3 million euros of applications submitted for the Porte des Alpes campus.