“For the moment, it is too early to know,” says theCompiègne opponent Etienne Dioton what he will do to municipal 2026. Elected on the list of centrist Daniel Leca (UDI) in 2020, after leaving the majority of Philippe Marini (LR), he became a free electron. While, at the same time, Daniel Leca got closer to Philippe Marini.
In January 2024, Philippe Marini and Daniel Leca even announced their vows together. Then, in the legislative elections in June, Philippe Marini supported Daniel Leca. In this context, Etienne Diot became the most vigorous opponent of Philippe Marini’s policies. To the point of putting together a list himself, while observers of political life are betting on a joint Marini-Leca list?
“National political life is unstable,” notes Etienne Diot, 39, deputy chief of staff at the National Council of the Order of Chartered Accountants. Fifteen months is a very long time. In 2025, there will perhaps be legislative elections. Until then, I will continue my work as a free and vigilant opponent. And whistleblower on the politics of Philippe Marini. That is to say, monitoring what is happening behind the communication. For example, compensation, asset sales, the development of Compiègne and the Agglomeration. We must restore a sense of priorities and the general interest.”
“I will take my responsibilities,” he says. As I did in the cantonal elections in 2021. Or in the legislative elections. Where I, twice, beat Pierre Vatin in the Compiègne sector, when he was Philippe Marini’s candidate.
“He has put political life under wraps for forty years”
An appeal by Etienne Diot before the administrative court at the start of his mandate resulted in the reimbursement of compensation received by the elected representatives of the majority. The court considered that the attributions of delegations were “insufficiently precise and did not correspond to the effective exercise of attributions”. He intends to cancel the sale, to an individual, of the annex of the Saint-Andrew church, on the grounds that the town has sold it off.
Etienne Diot assures him: “In 2026, we will have to put an end to the Marini system, which has sanitized political life for its own benefit. I am delighted that there are ambitions on both sides. He has kept political life under wraps for forty years.”
On the hypothesis of a transfer of power in the middle of the next term between Philippe Marini and Daniel Leca: “I don’t know if it will happen like this. But it sounds like it’s from another age. It is a patriarchal mode. I am not the type to receive the anointing of Philippe Marini. Compiègne must get out of this pattern. Maybe we need to write something new. Philippe Marini had his career. Compiègne must breathe. It has become, I think, a handicap to the construction of Compiégnois. Its software is outdated. Everyone should put their ambition at the service of the city and not an eighth or ninth mandate. Philippe Marini has been elected since 1977. It is complicated to build something outside of him.
Elected with Philippe Marini in 2014, he slammed the door in 2020
Elected in 2014 on Philippe Marini’s list, Etienne Diot broke out during the 2020 municipal campaign. “What attracted me in 2014 was to serve my city,” he remembers. I spent six years in the leisure department, where I notably organized the carnival. In 2020, everything went off the rails. Philippe Marini had included Érick Ducrocq in the campaign team. He had taken matters into his own hands. I said it was a “1990s” campaign. I made the choice to leave. Others didn’t have the courage to do it.”
Etienne Diot says he knows “the system from the inside”. As such, he finds that the position of first deputy Sophie Schwarz is “courageous”. “She embraces her ambitions,” he notes. The vehement reactions of his colleagues are those of another age. It is no less legitimate than any other. We have to get out of this. It’s misogynistic. It arouses reactions of fear in the majority. Quite simply because the system is locked around Philippe Marini. From the choice of the color of the plots to the composition of the canteen menus…”
“We need to change our mindset”
“What needs to change is the state of mind,” he concludes. We must restore ethics, morality… Power is monopolized by a few. You have to bring a field vision and get out of communication.”
He mentions the project to move the equestrian statue of Joan of Arc to the station district, for 120,000 euros. “This shows the disconnection of elected officials. We have lost our sense of priorities. Before reinvesting in the equestrian stadium, we should already ensure that no gymnasium and no school require work.”
2026 is the time for a new generation of Compiégnois and elected officials to take responsibility, believes Etienne Diot. “I hope that’s the case,” he says. And not Leca, then.
