France

Magistrate grounds France’s ‘Great West’ airport project

Government plans to build a controversial 580-million-euro “Great West” airport in countryside near the town of Nantes in north-west France received a major blow earlier this week when a magistrate ruled that the environmental damage could not be justified by economic opportunity. The shock decision against a project that has been more than fifty years in the making, and which is ardently championed by Prime Minister Manuel Valls while hotly contested by ecologists, is now under review by a panel of judges who will give a final decision early next week. Jade Lindgaard reports from Nantes.Update Monday November 14th: The magistrate's ruling was overturned by the panel of judges in Nantes on Monday. Airport opponents announced they are now to lodge an appeal before France's highest administrative court, the Council of State.

Reading articles is for subscribers only. Login

"If people think that the public rapporteur can be influenced by pressure from the government, they do not know the public rapporteur,” said Christine Piltant, an independent examining magistrate who is called upon, as a rapporteur, to mediate in administrative disputes in the town of Nantes in north-west France.

1€ for 15 days

Can be canceled online at any time

I subscribe

Only our readers can buy us

Support a 100% independent newspaper: without subsidies, without advertising, without shareholders

Get your information from a trusted source

Get exclusive access to revelations from an investigative journal

Already subscribed ?

Forgot password ?

#FREEMORTAZA

Since January 7, 2023 our colleague and friend Mortaza Behboudi has been imprisoned in Afghanistan, in the Taliban prisons.

We do not forget him and call for his release.

Learn more about #FREEMORTAZA

Today on Mediapart

See Journal’s homepage

#FREEMORTAZA

Since January 7, 2023 our colleague and friend Mortaza Behboudi has been imprisoned in Afghanistan, in the Taliban prisons.

We do not forget him and call for his release.

Learn more about #FREEMORTAZA