2023-11-28 06:23:57
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, during the congress of mayors of France, in Paris, November 21, 2023. ALAIN JOCARD / AFP
There are three of them that appear in Anne Hidalgo’s office, three clouds that have come to darken a Pacific blue horizon. Because everything is ready for the big trip! The suitcases are packed; the celebrations of the protocol menu are set; the information point with his first deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire, who will have to hold the rudder in his absence, is checked. The prospect of finding her daughter, whom she has not seen for several weeks, delights her. But, a few hours before departure for New Caledonia and Tahiti… horror. Friday October 13, Professor Dominique Bernard was assassinated in Arras, six days after the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel.
So, for the three men who knock on the padded door of the mayor of Paris, it is a matter of dissuading her at all costs from embarking on a public-private journey at 59,500 euros which is no longer necessary, and could even become perilous in terms of symbolism.
In context, it is better for Anne Hidalgo to stick around, according to them; her city will need her. And, at City Hall, we know that these three are almost the only ones who can tell him things: Frédéric Lénica, his chief of staff since 2018, voluble senior civil servant and political savvy, Jean-Marie Vernat, his most loyal advisor, and Barthélémy Bolo, his press advisor since 2023, ex-journalist who covered his municipal election campaign in 2020 for BFM Paris Ile-de-France.
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But not this time. Even they can’t convince her. The discussion is short. She leaves, period. And then, finally… what are the risks?, she asks. The official program is plethoric. Few people know about his private trip, even among his deputies; his official agenda is never published; she is of such exemplary integrity that she has already taken care to book and pay for her return ticket herself. The possibility of such an explosive backlash, fueled a posteriori by contradictory justifications, is never considered.
Starving support
When we question those close to the mayor to try to understand why she left against all odds, the answer is often the same: “What do you want me to tell you?” » More explicit subtitle: the mayor of Paris does exactly what she wants, how she wants, when she wants. She prefers to listen to herself, rather than others, and, over time, this method tends to solidify.
She must also assume alone, or almost, the consequences of her decision. Since his return, public support has been starving. Ian Brossat, his former communist deputy for housing, elected senator in September, or Lamia El Aaraje, deputy in charge of disability, are well mounted in defense, but Emmanuel Grégoire provided minimal service, which escaped no one. “There are others like Eric Lejoindre, the mayor of the 18th arrondissement, who have spoken out”, completes Rémi Féraud, senator and president of the socialist group at the Council of Paris, who concedes “communication errors”but he does not “no doubt that all this will quickly dissipate because there is nothing, no scandal”.
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