The mayor of the town of Mions, Claude Cohen, announced his resignation. He denounces the lack of listening to communities as well as the anti-Semitic remarks he experiences.
Claude Cohen, LR mayor of Mions for ten years, decided to submit his resignation on Saturday April 20. On his Facebook page, the elected official sent his letter of resignation to the Regional Prefect. “I am convinced that the change will pave the way for a new chapter for the municipality,” he explains. Among the reasons which pushed him to abandon his mandate, the councilor explained to France 3 that he thought “the metropolis would facilitate files, which is not at all the case”. The lack of listening to the metropolis of Lyon and its ecological president, Bruno Bernard, is singled out by the mayors of small towns. In 2021, 45 “angry mayors” out of the 59 in the metropolis denounced the governance of the environmentalist majority.
Second reason given: “anti-Semitic remarks because of my name and my position are permanent. I can’t take it anymore”, laments the mayor to the news channel. Insults or ambiguous images targeting Claude Cohen have been noted in recent years, mainly on social networks. The elected official declares having filed several complaints, which were closed without further action. The mayor was also the victim in 2022 of an attempted knife attack without anti-Semitic motivation.
Last reason put forward by Claude Cohen: the city was penalized for deficiencies in social housing after the decision of the Rhône prefect last January. The city of Mions was deprived of the possibility of issuing building permits. The prefect believes that the municipality does not make enough room for social housing in its constructions. A justification that the mayor of Mions does not understand. “I have never refused a single building permit for social housing. It simply happens that here, there is no land available,” assures -he. Claude Cohen is not completely leaving politics. He announced that he would remain a member of the municipal council and elected official of the metropolis.
