Cergy-Pontoise theme park megaproject opposed by environmental activists, Digi Mart USA News (Cergy-Pontoise, France): Environmental advocates protested on Sunday in Cergy-Pontoise, denouncing what they called “a child’s whim” by French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At the end of August, the two leaders announced the construction of three theme parks.
The project carries an investment of 6 billion euros. On Sunday, dozens of environmental activists mobilized against the planned theme parks, one of which would focus on manga culture, in the Val-d’Oise department.
At the end of August, Macron and the Saudi crown prince announced the construction of three parks in Cergy-Pontoise. According to an adviser to the president, the project was born from a discussion between the two men in Riyadh in December 2024, when they discovered their “shared passion” for manga, “notably Dragon Ball Z.”
“I don’t see what manga has to do with land planning,” said environmental activist Bernard Lou, mockingly, describing it as “a child’s whim.” On Sunday, the octogenarian led information workshops on the megaproject for several dozen people gathered in front of the Cergy-Préfecture train station. He presented strategies drawn from activists who opposed an airport project at Notre-Dame-des-Landes in Loire-Atlantique.
“We are coming out of a scorching summer, and today we are going to bring thousands of additional tourists and artificialize land.” The park potentially dedicated to Dragon Ball would be built on the site of the former Mirapolis park in Val-d’Oise, which features an enormous Gargantua statue. The site closed 35 years ago.
Lou chairs the Collectif pour le Triangle de Gonesse, which in 2019 secured the abandonment of the Europacity project, a large complex of shops and leisure facilities in the east of the department.
“It feels a little like, since they didn’t succeed with Europacity, they are trying to push another project of a similar nature,” said Alicia Delvig, co-founder of the collective “Mirapolis aux habitants.” The 26-year-old real estate worker criticized the project as “useless and harmful to land planning.” Among the activists present, several people were painting signs reading “Biodiversity, not precariousness” and “Farmers, not roller coasters.”
A resident of Marines, a small town in the Vexin region, who came with her daughter and grandson, said, “When you live this close, you worry about what they will do.” Maxime Tranier, a 27-year-old job seeker, said there had been no consultation with residents and expressed concern about transportation. “It’s going to be a real headache,” he said.
“I really feel like I’m being taken for a fool,” said Franck Clavaud, 51, a cultural mediator who lives in a public housing building in Courdimanche, a few hundred meters from the planned development zone. He is concerned about nuisances and environmental impact.
“Once natural areas have been destroyed, you cannot go back,” he warned. Several species live in the area, including the blue tit and the laughing frog.
Opponents also point to the vagueness surrounding the project. Although a theme park dedicated to the Dragon Ball universe had been mentioned in the press before the official announcement, the discussion later broadened to manga in general.
“They now talk about an ‘integrated destination,'” said Vincent Gayrard, a member of Les Amis de la Terre, who said he does not clearly understand what that means. “It’s a catch-all, we don’t know what to put in it, but it has to be built!” he said, pointing to those who believe that “nature abhors a vacuum.”
