Controversy over a building permit granted to the King of the Belgians on the island of Yeu

Filed in March 2020, under an assumed name (Mr. and Mrs. Legrand) for reasons of discretion, the building permit application concerns the construction of an "annex to accommodate exclusively the security services necessary for the protection of a head of state ", according to Mayor Bruno Noury ​​(various right).

It was granted in August 2020, after five months of instruction. "You can imagine that I did not do this alone," explains Mr. Noury, who says he "consulted the State services" on the possibility of a derogation in order to build on this remarkable wooded area.

The Local Urban Plan (PLU) "provides for exceptions from collective facilities of general interest, particularly in terms of security, and this is the case", the Vendée prefecture confirmed to AFP.

The municipal opposition M'Yeu Ensemble denounces it a "scandalous privilege". "Is it enough to be a 'Majesty' to transgress the Law and freely concretize our natural heritage with the complicity of the authorities?", Ask the elected officials on their Facebook page.

The leader of the opposition Patrice Bernard (various right) assured, during the municipal council of January 26, that the project should "have been the subject of a deliberation or go to the sites committee". "In a natural area, in a registered site, in a space close to the shore, this is the procedure," he added.

"It was imposed on us", then retorted the mayor. With AFP, Mr. Noury ​​assured to be "in the legality since the PLU allowed it even if it is a very particular situation".

A spokesperson for the Belgian Royal Palace confirmed that a building permit had been obtained "in due form, in accordance with the regulations".

The King and Queen, who have visited the island every summer for the past twenty years, acquired this land of approximately 7.000 m² in 2019, in order to renovate the 200m² house there.

"This is not Putin's palace," pointed out the mayor. "The king comes here in all discretion. He can go and buy his bread without anyone else bringing it up", he described, saying that he regretted an "unhealthy jealousy which does not increase the island of Yeu".