Former Prime Minister Jean Castex has been officially appointed chairman of the board of directors of the Agency for the financing of transport infrastructure in France (Afit France), according to a decree published this Thursday in the Official Gazette.
“By decree of the President of the Republic dated August 17, 2022, Mr. Jean Castex is appointed president of the board of directors of the Agency for the financing of transport infrastructure in France,” the text indicates very briefly. Mr. Castex succeeds Christophe Béchu, who has become Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion.
A strong interest in the transport sector
Afit France is a public body that manages the State’s participation in the financing of road, rail, river and port infrastructures. Its budget is financed with a part of the proceeds from the tax on internal consumption of energy products (TICPE), a payment from highway concession companies, a part of the speed camera fines, and state subsidies.
A self-confessed railwayman, Jean Castex has repeatedly expressed his attachment to the transport field during his time at Matignon.
Large investments in favor of decarbonization
His appointment as head of the board of directors of Afit France was approved by Parliament on July 27, after hearings in the Assembly and the Senate. Castex then recognized the need to invest massively in rail to decarbonize transport, but without forgetting the road, essential according to him “to open up the territories”.
The former Prime Minister was also designated at the end of July, on a voluntary basis, as President of the Law Against Exclusion Foundation (FACE).
Source: BFM TV
