The municipalities of Île-de-France previously with Autolib ‘must compensate the Bolloré group. The Paris Administrative Court of Appeal decided this February 21. These self-service electric cars had been withdrawn in 2018, five years before the end of the contract.
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44.9 million euros to compensate for the losses suffered by the Bolloré group, to which are added approximately 13 million for the electric charging stations. Not to mention 8.2 million euros for contract termination costs. This is the distribution of the sums claimed from all the municipalities that welcomed Autolib ‘.
It was “Bluecars”, or more simply electric cars for rental for the general public on subscription. Thousands of vehicles available in Paris and Ile-de-France, in several municipalities gathered in the mixed union Autolib’Vélib ‘Métropole (SMAVM).
This system had been put in place in 2011, before an early end of this contract in 2018. A judgment of the administrative court of appeal disputed by the municipalities, but justified according to the Bolloré group, producer of these cars, which invokes prejudices .
The Court estimates in its judgment rendered on February 21 that the clause providing for payment of operating losses greater than 60 million euros by the municipalities is applicable. The sum is distributed among the municipalities, depending on the number of stations located on their territory. A large part of this sum is therefore falling in Paris and its 700 old stations, while 97 other cities of a small crown with 400 stations in total must pay the rest.
According to the judges, the company Autolib ‘should have notified, “no later than November 30, 2013“, the lack of economic interest in the carshar service, which would have”License to terminate the concession – and, thus, to stop the costs – from December 31, 2013“. She deduces that Autolib ‘can claim compensation for the cumulative deficit of the concession exceeding 60 million euros until the end of 2013 only.
The end of Autolib ‘disrupted its followers • © France 3 Paris-île-de-France
The Court noted that “The shortcomings of the company Autolib ‘are not at the origin of the lack of economic interest of the concession, which is essentially due to an excessively optimistic turnover forecast when it is launched“However, she finds that”Both the Société Autolib ‘and the SMAVM were slow to react to the difficulties of the concession“.
For its part, the mixed union which represents the participating municipalities considers that the decision gives them partly reason. “”The judgment of the CAA, already, confirms the legality of the contract and then takes into account the arguments of the union. The union had defended from the start the fact that the clause according to which the member municipalities were to compensate the Bolloré group for the losses it made was not due. The court granted 66 million euros, that is to say a quarter of what had been requested“, Specifies Sylvain Raifaud, president of the metropolitan agency for shared mobility (Editor’s note: new name of the mixed union Autolib’Vélib ‘Métropole, SMAVM).
The municipalities could not realize the financial difficulties of the service, according to him: “The responsibility of the Bolloré group is recognized as regards the mismanagement of the service and the concealment which was made of the accounts of the company. This did not put the communities able to stop the costs in time, at the end of 2013. He should have given his accounts to the union, which he did not do. It was not until 2018 to see the magnitude of the financial drift. If the Bolloré group had applied the contract as he was held there, it would have given its accounts much earlier and the observation would have been made much earlier by the difficulty of balanced this service.“
The municipalities say they understand “13 million euros in the judgment of the Administrative Court of Appeal“, to buy the charging stations. But no question for them to repair the losses:”Insofar as they are very largely responsible for it, from the start, we considered that it was not to be.“In the meantime, the hundreds of municipalities are long to analyze the decision rendered by administrative justice, before considering”to use the Council of State in Cassation to obtain justice for communities“.
Read also ► Launched on December 5, 2011, the Autolib ‘service celebrates this first anniversary this Thursday
For the time being, this judgment partially informed that rendered at first instance. In 2023, the administrative court had dismissed the Bolloré group. Five years before, Autolib ‘had notified to the mixed union the lack of economic interest of the concession and had asked it to pay financial compensation of 233.7 million euros.
The joint union of municipalities had refused, before terminating the contract on June 25, 2018. Five years before the planned end, As the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal recalls. This had led the Breton industrialist to seize the administrative court to claim 240 million euros in compensation.