The mayor of Paris is responsible for more than two million inhabitants, 10 billion EUR budget and more than 50 thousand municipal employees. Her life revolves between global problems and social troubles, solemn duties and small scandals, unexpected crises and the everyday routine of bureaucratic officialdom.
Earlier this year, Hidalgo held a referendum on hefty parking fee hikes, dealt with a strike that closed the Eiffel Tower to tourists and fended off police opposition to plans to make the Trocadero a pedestrian zone.
She also had to contend with her political rival Rachida Dati, who was appointed Minister of Culture.
There was no Olympic peace
During his current tenure, A. Hidalgo had many worries about the upcoming Olympic Games.
She was even questioned in person by the National Treasury after allegations she misused public funds when she traveled to Tahiti in October to visit the Olympic surfing site there and then made a private visit to her daughter, who lives on a nearby island.
Was it another tough week? “It was nothing compared to the others. Every year people try to come up with something. The judge wanted to get an explanation, we presented them with all the documents,” the politician sighed.
People close to her speak of her vitality and tireless enthusiasm.
But after 20 years in the public eye, she became very cautious. French journalists even complain that she has a “langue du bois” (French for wooden tongue) and tends to keep her knowledge safely to herself.
“Yes, it is difficult to be a mayor,” said A. Hidalgo. – The post of mayor of Paris is important and I am the first woman to hold it. But I have a vision. “It’s not enough for me to just be here and say: ‘Oh my God, it’s so hard because I’m a woman!’ That’s why I always fight against my opponents,” A. Hidalgo said.
Overcame more than one crisis
During the years of her leadership, the mayor of Paris, who shows exceptional attention to environmental protection, turned the city into a city of bicycle paths, open pedestrian spaces, and green suburbs. The number of cars and air pollution have fallen by more than 40 percent in a decade. Paris now has 1,400 km of bike lanes, up from around 200 km in 2001.
Hidalgo coordinated the response to the Islamist terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan concert hall in 2015, as well as the fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019, and she defied government policy to distribute face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But at the very mention of her name, the response to Parisians is often: “Hidalgo? Everyone hates her!”
Despite everything, A. Hidalgo is proud to emphasize that this summer’s games will be the most environmentally friendly to date. Most of the events will be held in existing arenas in the city.
“The stadium is a city,” said A. Hidalgo. Beach volleyball will be held in front of the Eiffel Tower, and BMX bike and skateboard competitions will be held on Santarvė Square.
New projects, including a basketball arena that will help regenerate the northern district of Paris and an Olympic village, were delivered on time and almost under budget.
The river Seine has been cleaned and after a century-long ban, the mayor hopes that Parisians will be able to swim in it after the Games.
“I love life. I like to walk in the mountains. I like to swim. It’s not easy to live a less than normal life, but I try to be normal. I go shopping myself,” said the mayor.
Childhood was difficult
The mayor of Paris, whose full name is Ana Maria Hidalgo Aleu, was born in 1959. in southern Spain. During the civil war, her grandfather fled to France, and upon his return was condemned to death by the regime of Francisco Franco. Her father did not have the opportunity to get a proper education.
He moved to France in the early 1960s, found work in a factory, and settled his family in the working-class area of Lyon, where Hidalgo and her sister Mary grew up.
Hidalgo got good grades at school, studied social law at the University of Lyon, fell in love and married her first husband, Philippe Jantet, a fellow student and political activist, at the age of 20. They had children Matthieu and Elsa.
She began her career as a labor inspector, learning to hold her own in the masculine environment of factories and mines with condescending local politicians.
After A. Hidalgo and Ph. Jantet divorced, the future mayor met her second and current husband, Jean Marc Germain. Then they both worked at the Ministry of Labour. “She was in charge of vocational training, I was in charge of employment,” revealed JMGermain.
According to the man, he was impressed by Anne’s positivity and strength. Together they had a son, Arthur. A. Hidalgo became pregnant in the last months of the campaign, when she was seeking the post of vice mayor of Paris.
JMGermain said it was her first incredible win: “Nothing was given to her. Never. It has always been the same at every step of her career. “Elle fonce,” as they say in French, “she wants it.”
Always moving forward
When in 2001 Arthur was born in December, A. Hidalgo did not take maternity leave.
“Worse, the night before Arthur was born she was waiting for the party vote,” the man recalled.
A. Hidalgo has said: “It’s like riding a bicycle: if you don’t remember the pedals, you’ll fall.”
In many cases, A. Hidalgo’s image as a mayor is linked to bicycles. It has declared war on traffic in Paris, predicting that by 2020 banish diesel cars from the city (now pushed back to 2025) and all gas-powered cars by 2030.
After overcoming objections and a court decision, she managed to remove traffic from the right bank of the Seine. However, the movement of cars, squeezed into narrower lanes, only worsened.
Drivers and people living outside the ring road are furious because of the constant traffic jams: they call A. Hidalgo a Stalinist, a Khmer Rouge or a gypsy baron who turns Paris into Disneyland.
According to critics, the city has become dirty, messy and full of rats. The ongoing upgrade of gas and water pipeline infrastructure means that streets are constantly being dug up.
The decision to raise property taxes by 52 percent and the city’s debt burden show that it is spending too much money on greening the city.
Under the hashtag #SaccageParis (“destroying Paris”), angry Parisians have been posting photos of roadworks and tree stumps littered with puddles, cigarette butts, rubbish and dog poo.
“I think my beliefs, policies, and actions best reflect what I do as mayor,” said A. Hidalgo. – I understand that people talk a lot and say that the mayor of Paris is like the devil.
But these are not the Parisians who live in Paris and voted for me.”
Prepared by Vogue France inf.
2024-09-01 13:21:44