Christophe Castaner appointed chairman of the board of directors of ATMB, concessionaire of the Mont-Blanc tunnel

Aged 56, this early macronist replaces the mayor of Chambéry and former socialist minister delegated to vocational training then to European Affairs of François Hollande, Thierry Repentin, 59, who had been in office since 2017.

Autoroutes et Tunnel du Mont-Blanc (ATMB) is a company 91,3% owned by the State and local authorities, holder of a concession contract with the French State which has entrusted it with the maintenance and management of the Autoroute blanche (A2050) and the Route blanche (RN40).

Since 2002, ATMB and its Italian counterpart, SITMB (Italian Company of the Mont Blanc Tunnel) ensure within a Franco-Italian grouping, the GEIE-TMB, the exploitation and the maintenance of the Mont-Blanc Tunnel.

This appointment by presidential decree dated November 17, 2022, comes the day after the appointment of Christophe Castener to the Grand port maritime de Marseille (GPMM) in the college of qualified personalities of the Supervisory Board of the port of the city, in the same way as the ex-CEO of Orange Stéphane Richard or Laurence Borie Bancel, who is at the head of the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR).

Built in 1965 and 11,6 kilometers long, the Mont-Blanc tunnel is a road link between Chamonix and Courmayeur in Italy. In mid-October, it was closed for three consecutive weeks for renovations. Since June, chronic computer failures have regularly interrupted traffic in both directions.

The structure is used by more than 100.000 vehicles each month.

Christophe Castaner, close to President Macron, had been Minister of the Interior (2018-2020) in the Castex government and leader of the parliamentary group of the presidential majority in September 2020, before being sharply beaten in the legislative elections of 2022 in its stronghold in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.