The PS no longer leaves Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne). According to our information, the transaction which was to allow the party to return to Paris was not completed. Announced in June 2020, this operation in the process of being sealed between the PS and the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, owner of premises, cited Malesherbes in the 9th arrondissement, has been definitively stopped. “She is in suspense”, corrects a PS executive. “She is well and truly buried,” reaffirms an elected official.
This return of the Socialists to the center of the capital had its reasons, however. The 1000 m2 of Ivry had become too spacious for the PS. The new site, acquired in 2018 after the sale of the historic headquarters rue de Solférino (VIIe), was little invested by leaders and activists, especially since the Covid crisis and the advent of teleworking. For the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, the modern building in Ivry had the advantage of being better suited to the requirements for storing its voluminous archives. The contemplated transaction was to take the form of an exchange or cross-sell.
A risky site for the preservation of archives
But, it seems that following further audits, the interest of the Foundation has noticeably declined. Reason: the Ivry building has risky technical characteristics with regard to the conservation needs of archives intended for storage. “The archives are very heavy for the land where the headquarters of the PS is located, confides a person close to the file. The Foundation would therefore have had to reinforce… the foundations of the building. The cost would have been all the higher as the headquarters is built on a potentially flood-prone area. A risk that is difficult to take when it comes to keeping archives, that is to say over a very long period. »
Induced effect of the sine die postponement of the transaction, the finances of the PS remain in an extremely difficult situation. According to documents recently published by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts, the party still shows a deficit of 3.7 million euros in 2020. t stood at 4.9 million in 2019. But it is likely to widen in 2021 due to the social plan implemented last year. »
According to our information, of the approximately 21 million euros in financial reserves, 20 million belong to the federations. The party, in the national sense of the term, is therefore on a tightrope. The headquarters mortgage, considered at the start of Anne Hidalgo’s presidential campaign, was also abandoned. According to an elected socialist, this mortgage brought out an asset value of the building 2 to 3 million euros lower than its acquisition price. Times are definitely very hard for the party…