I have an op-ed in Libération on the imbalance in resources that the French state devotes to the Île-de-France region compared with the rest of the country, starting from the case of the Greater Paris project.

The project, driven by local authorities but initiated and financed by the state, has seen its cost climb to around €30 billion — nearly 50% above the initial estimate of €20.5 billion. I see it as a continuation of an old French centralism, one that organises the country into two classes of citizens: that of Paris, and that of the « French desert », to use Jean-François Gravier’s phrase, where certain responsibilities and certain careers are only accessible in a single metropolis.

Read the full op-ed in Libération