Anne Hidalgo | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2014 | |
| Mayor of Paris | |
| Assumed office 5 April 2014 | |
| Deputy | Bruno Julliard Emmanuel Grégoire Patrick Bloche |
| Preceded by | Bertrand Delanoë |
| First Deputy Mayor of Paris | |
| In office 18 March 2001 – 5 April 2014 | |
| Mayor | Bertrand Delanoë |
| Preceded by | Jacques Dominati |
| Succeeded by | Bruno Julliard |
| Councillor of Paris | |
| Assumed office 9 March 2001 | |
| Constituency | 15th arrondissement(2001–2020) 11th arrondissement(2020–present) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ana María Hidalgo Aleu (1959-06-19)19 June 1959 (age 66) San Fernando,Andalusia, Spain |
| Citizenship |
|
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Hôtel de Ville de Paris |
| Alma mater | Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 Paris West University Nanterre La Défense |
| Signature |  |
Ana María "Anne"Hidalgo Aleu (French:[anidalɡo],Spanish:[iˈðalɣo]; born 19 June 1959)[2][3] is a Spanish-born French politician who has served asMayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of theSocialist Party (PS).
Hidalgo was First Deputy Mayor of Paris under MayorBertrand Delanoë (2001–2014), having held the title ofCouncillor of Paris since2001.[4] She was elected to the mayorship in2014 after Delanoë announced he would not seek a third term. During her first term as Mayor of Paris she launched the city-wideRéinventer Paris ("Reinvent Paris") programme,[5] which aimed at refurbishing and allocating obsolescent sites new uses, as well as opened aparticipatory budgeting platform for projects throughout the city.[6] 2015 was marked by instances ofIslamic terrorism: theJanuaryCharlie Hebdo shooting andNovember coordinated attacks, including theBataclan theatre massacre, the aftermath of which she witnessed first-hand.[7]
Her popularity declined following several instances of alleged mismanagement, to the point that polls showed a majority of voters did not want her to win a second term in2020.[8][9] First Deputy MayorBruno Julliard resigned in 2018, criticising Hidalgo's style of governance.[10] In 2019 she oversaw the disaster recovery efforts for theNotre-Dame de Paris fire. While theCOVID-19 pandemic led to a record low voter turnout, she was reelected with a plurality of the vote.
During her second term as Mayor of Paris, Hidalgo oversaw the city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing measures such as nightly curfews, closure of non-essential shops and the introduction of 50 kilometres (31 mi) of pop-up cycle lanes known as "coronapistes" to ease pressure on public transport.[11][12][13] By early 2021, a number of Hidalgo's policies had gained international attention, such as her proposal to remove over half of Paris's car parking spaces and turn theChamps-Élysées into a "fantastic garden".[14][15][16] In 2024, Paris hosted theSummer Olympics; theopening ceremony was held outside of a stadium for the first time in modern history, with the athletesparaded by boat along theSeine.
On 12 September 2021, Hidalgo announced her candidacy in the2022 presidential election, despite her 2020 pledge to serve a full second term as Mayor of Paris.[17][18] She came tenth out of twelve candidates, with 1.75% of the vote, the lowest result ever for a Socialist candidate in a French presidential election.
Hidalgo was born inSan Fernando,province of Cádiz, Spain.[1] Her paternal grandfather was a SpanishSocialist who became a refugee in France after the end of theSpanish Civil War along with his wife and his four children. However, her grandparents returned to Spain some time later. Her grandmother died on the return trip, whereas her grandfather wassentenced to death, although this sentence was eventually commuted to alife sentence.
Hidalgo's father, Antonio Hidalgo (born inAntequera),[19] was raised by his maternal grandparents.[citation needed] He was an electrician.[1] In the late 1950s, he married a seamstress named Maria;[1] they had two daughters, Ana (Anne) and María (Marie). However, due to the social and economic problems in Spain resulting from the implementation of theStabilization Plan, Hidalgo's parents migrated to France in 1961, this time as economic immigrants.[20][21][22] They settled inLyon[23] with their two daughters.
Hidalgo grew up inVaise, the9th arrondissement of Lyon,[24] speaking Spanish with her parents and French with her sister. Her parents are now back in Spain[22] while her elder sister, Marie, manages a company inLos Angeles. Hidalgo and her parents were naturalised French when she was fourteen. In 2003, she regained Spanish nationality and since then has dual French–Spanish citizenship.
Hidalgo graduated with amaster's degree insocial law atJean Moulin University Lyon 3[25][26] before completing aMaster of Advanced Studies (DEA) in social and trade unionism atParis West University Nanterre La Défense.
In 1982, Hidalgo entered the national contest for theInspection du travail (Labour Inspectorate), ranking fifth. She obtained her first inspector assignment inChevilly-Larue in 1984 at the age of 24, before receiving a post in the15th arrondissement of Paris where she lived, a few months later.
In 1991, Hidalgo was appointed director of the National Institute of Labour. In 1993, she joined the vocational training delegation at the Ministry of Labour and then obtained a mission at theInternational Labour Office in Geneva from 1995 to 1996. She then worked for one year as a project manager for the Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Labour. From 1996 to 1997, she was an officer at the Human Resources Directorate ofCompagnie Générale des Eaux (thenVivendi and Vivendi Universal).
Hidalgo retired from thecivil service on 1 July 2011, aged 52.[27]
Between 1997 and 2002, Hidalgo worked as a staffer in threeministerial offices within the government ofLionel Jospin: first in the office ofMartine Aubry at the Ministry of Employment and Solidarity as technical advisor; then withNicole Péry, Secretary of State for Women's Rights and Vocational Training, from 1998 to 2000, as technical advisor then consultant to the firm, participating, in particular, in the drafting of laws on parity and professional equality between women and men; and from November 2000 to May 2002, as a technical adviser and then mission manager, responsible for social relations and the status of civil servants, in the office ofMarylise Lebranchu, Minister of Justice.
Hidalgo said on 4 April 2013, onRMC: "I earn 5,000 euros net per month for my mandates". According to the websiteAtlantico, she received, for all her revenues, around 8,200 euros net per month.
In the2001 municipal elections, she led the list of theSocialist Party (PS) in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, which won 26.5% of votes in the first round; at the second round it then placed behind the list gathered aroundÉdouard Balladur andMayor René Galy-Dejean. She joined the Council of Paris and was appointed First Deputy Mayor of Paris.
In June 2002, she was a candidate in thelegislative election in the12th arrondissement of Paris, winning 29.6% of votes in the first round, but Balladur was elected with 54.2% of the vote. In March 2004, she was elected to theRegional Council ofÎle-de-France on the list led byJean-Paul Huchon.
As part of the internal campaign for the nomination of the Socialist candidate in 2006, she publicly supportedDominique Strauss-Kahn, while remaining close toLionel Jospin andBertrand Delanoë. With other female leaders of the Socialist Party, she criticized the "peoplelisation" of politics, referring to the promotion ofSégolène Royal as a popularist widely-identifiable member of the Socialist Party, rather than a classical Marxist.
In June 2007, she was a candidate at thelegislative election in the13th arrondissement of Paris and had in the first round 28.2%, against 36.6% for theUMP candidateJean-François Lamour; she was beaten on the second round with 56.7% for Lamour.
In 2001, Hidalgo was elected councillor in the 15th arrondissement. She also joined the Council of Paris, where the left had a majority for the first time since 1977.
The new Mayor of Paris,Bertrand Delanoë, wishing to apply parity within his administration and among his deputies, appointed Hidalgo as the first deputy responsible for gender equality and the time office. Close toFrançois Hollande, she thus obtained her first executive position. In 2002, she acted as Mayor of Paris during the convalescence of Delanoë after he was stabbed during an attempted assassination.[28] She confided at the same time to consider a candidacy forMayor of Toulouse in 2008.
In June 2002, as a candidate in the legislative election inParis's 12th constituency, Hidalgo won 29.6% of the vote in the first and only round against 54.2% of the vote for incumbentÉdouard Balladur, who was reelected. She also failed to takeParis's 13th constituency away from the UMP in June 2007, obtaining 28.2% of the vote in the first round, then 43.3% of the votes in the second round against 56.7% for the former Sports MinisterJean-François Lamour (UMP).
In the municipal elections of 9 and 16 March 2008, the assembly list (PS-PCF-PRG-MRC) that Hidalgo led in the 15th arrondissement of Paris came first in the first round with 35.9% of the vote (28 313 votes) against a strongly divided right, 33.9% toPhilippe Goujon's UMP list and 10.1% toGérard d'Aboville's list (various right). In the second round, her list obtained 47.35% of the votes against 52.65% obtained by Philippe Goujon, whose list merged with that of Gérard d'Aboville. Anne Hidalgo remained first Deputy Mayor under Bertrand Delanoë. She was then responsible for town planning and architecture and seats for the board of directors of the Parisian Urban Planning Workshop.
In 2017, an article fromCapital stated that Hidalgo had been paid €100,000 by the Ministry of Labour from 2001 to 2003, while being Bertrand Delanoë's first deputy. Hidalgo's office indicated that she would file a complaint for defamation.
In the2004 regional elections, Hidalgo was elected to theRegional Council of Île-de-France after being voted for Paris on the list conducted at the regional level byJean-Paul Huchon. She became a member of the Committee on Transport and Traffic and is the Chair of the Regional AIDS Information and Prevention Centre (CRIPS).
In the2010 regional elections, the Socialist list she led in Paris came in second place in the first round, with 26.3% of the vote, behind the list led byChantal Jouanno (28.9%) and in front of the Green list of Robert Lion (20.6%). In the second round, his list took the lead with 57.9% of the votes cast, winning in the 1st and 5th districts, two bastions traditionally anchored on the right. Reelected as regional councillor, she joined the Committee on Culture and became president of Île-de-France Europe, which represents the region at the European Union institutions inBrussels. Jean-Luc Romero succeeded her to the presidency of the CRIPS. Upon her election as Mayor of Paris, she stepped down as a regional councillor.
In 2012 Hidalgo announced her intention to seek the succession of Bertrand Delanoë in the2014 Paris municipal election. The only candidate of her party after the withdrawal ofJean-Marie Le Guen, Hidalgo was appointed on 22 May 2013 to lead the municipal campaign, with 98.3% of the votes of 2,715 Paris Socialists. She appointedPascal Cherki as spokesman for her campaign, assisted byBruno Julliard,Rémi Féraud (also co-director of the campaign with Jean-Louis Missika),Ian Brossat (after the PS-PCF agreement),Colombe Brossel,Seybah Dagoma andMyriam El Khomri. On 10 October 2013, she was reelected as head of the PS list in the 15th arrondissement.
On 30 March 2014, in the second round, the list she led won a majority in the Paris Council. In the 15th arrondissement, her list was however defeated by outgoing MayorPhilippe Goujon (UMP), whose list received 63.4% of the vote in the second round. For the first time, a candidate thus accessed the mayorship of Paris without being in the majority in their district. On 5 April 2014, she was elected to the mayorship by the Paris Council, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Paris being also adepartment, she also became President of the Departmental Council of Paris, one of ten women (out of 101).
Hidalgo was elected First Vice President of theMétropole du Grand Paris on 22 January 2016,ex officio to her mayoral position.
Ahead of the Socialist Party's2017 primaries, Hidalgo endorsedVincent Peillon as the party's candidate for thepresidential election later that year.[29]
In 2017,United Nations Secretary General António Guterres appointed Hidalgo to the eight-member Independent Panel to Assess, Enhance Effectiveness of theUnited Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).[30]
On 28 June 2020, Hidalgo was reelected as mayor of Paris, winning 48.5% of ballots cast.[31] There was a record low voter turnout in the second round of the municipal elections (64%) which were postponed because of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[32] Hidalgo's campaign focused on turning Paris into a 15-minute city (Ville Du Quart D'Heure),[31] aiming to make neighbourhoods more self-sufficient within eacharrondissement in Paris having its own grocery stores, parks, cafes, sports facilities, health centres, schools and offices accessible by way of a short walk or bike ride.[33] In December 2020, Hidalgo received a€90,000 fine (approximately $103,000) from the national government, after she named 11 women out of 16 in her upper management, which was a violation of a rule of the French Civil Service Ministry allowing a maximum of 60% of one gender in leadership positions.[34]
In October 2021, Hidalgo took 72% of the votes in the Socialist primary for the2022 French presidential election, ahead of the mayor ofLe Mans,Stéphane Le Foll.[35] At the start of the following year, she was one of seven names in the2022 French People's Primary for a common left-wing candidate; she was one of three candidates who did not consent to be on its ballot. She came fifth out of seven candidates, the lowest of the five who were professional politicians.[36] In the actual election, she came tenth of 12 candidates with 1.75% of the vote; she subsequently endorsedEmmanuel Macron ahead ofMarine Le Pen.[37]
In 2024, Hidalgo announced that she would not seek a third term as Mayor of Paris, namingRémi Féraud as her preferred successor.[38]
On 21 December 2005, in the debates onDADVSI (a French copyright reform bill), she took a public stand against the amendments of the Socialist Group introducing the "global licence" to download online material. On 26 December, she signed with Christophe Girard,Deputy Mayor of Paris responsible for Culture, a view published in the newspaperLe Monde defending her position on behalf ofcultural diversity which would be threatened by the "global licence."[39] Some people[who?] contend that she was in fact defending the interests ofVivendi Universal, the music and film company which employed her a few years earlier.
On 3 January 2006, she presented with François Adibi and the Socialist Party's Culture Section a report and new recommendations "for a fair solution", rejecting both thedigital rights management (DRM) and the "global licence". She was later ostracised by the PS leadership which chose to defend in theNational Assembly the "global licence" advocated byPatrick Bloche (Paris),Didier Mathus (Saône-et-Loire) andChristian Paul (Nièvre).
In 2005, Hidalgo took a stand in the debate oncults in France, becoming the president of a committee of vigilance against the cults at theCouncil of Paris. She was especially opposed to theChurch of Scientology andNew Acropolis, and participated in a demonstration in front of the Church of Scientology's premises.[40][41] A map of cults in Paris, created by the Mairie de Paris at that time and promoted by Hidalgo, was controversial[42] and Hidalgo filed a complaint against an unknown person for circulating a leaflet on the Internet signed by a "committee to support Anne Hidalgo", which requested denunciation of "non-compliant behaviours."[41] Hidalgo denies any link with this supposed support committee. A complaint that she brought against the head of the organization that circulated the leaflet was later dismissed.[43]
From May 2016, in order to combat air pollution in the city, Hidalgo oversaw the introduction of a scheme called "Paris Respire" (literally "Paris Breathes"), which included banning all cars from certain areas of Paris on the first Sunday of the month, as well as making public transport and the city's bicycle and electric vehicle schemes free for the day.[44][45] She also worked further to reduce car usage, with an increase in the price of parking meters, a ban on free parking on certain days, and the conversion of certain sections of a highway along theRiver Seine into a riverside park.[46] On 24 June 2017, she joined PresidentEmmanuel Macron in calling for the adoption of aGlobal Pact for the Environment along with other public figures such asLaurent Fabius,Nicolas Hulot,Arnold Schwarzenegger andBan Ki-moon.[47]
She has also proposed a ban ondiesel motors in Paris streets[48] and has promised a 24/7 service for theParis Métro.[49] Hidalgo aimed to have more than 970 km (600 mi) ofbike lanes in Paris by 2020.[50]
In February 2020, Hidalgo launched her Paris Mayor reelection campaign with a focus on making Paris into a15-minute city (ville du quart d'heure), a concept of urban proximity coined byCarlos Moreno. The name 15-minute city refers to the idea that in cities, residents of each neighbourhood should be able to reach all necessary amenities (such as schools, offices, shops, parks, health centres) by a 15-minute walk or bike ride, moving away from car dependency in order to cut air pollution levels.[51]
In an interview given toLe Parisien in October 2020, Hidalgo announced "we must forget about crossing Paris from east to west by car".[52][53] Hidalgo announced her intention to create permanent curb-protected cycle lanes and expand the number of "coronapistes", cycle lanes created during theCOVID-19 pandemic in France.[52] She also intends to remove over half of the parking spaces in Paris by the end of her four-year term in office (70,000 out of 140,000 total).[54]
In January 2021, Hidalgo announced that she had approved a €250 million renovation of theChamps-Élysées, with the intention of reducing space allocated to vehicles by half, turning roads into green and pedestrianised areas and planting tunnels of trees to improve air quality.[55]
At the start of her first term, Hidalgo stated in an interview that housing is her number one priority.[56] Under Hidalgo's mayorship, Paris has produced 7,000 social housing units a year since Hidalgo took office, up from 5,000 a year under her predecessor. She aims for Paris to be 30% social housing by 2030.[57]
In November 2023, Hidalgo publicly quit the social media platformX, describing it as a "gigantic global sewer" that is "destroying our democracies" by spreading abuse and misinformation. Her move has been seen as a response to the perceived degradation of the platform since theacquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk but has also been linked to attacks on the platform resulting from the TahitiGate controversy.[58]
She took part in theMarch for the Republic and Against Antisemitism in Paris on 12 November 2023 in response to therise in antisemitism since the beginning of theGaza war.[59]
Hidalgo rejectedcalls to ban Israeli athletes from the Summer Olympics because ofIsrael's actions in theGaza Strip, saying, "Sanctioning Israel in relation to the Olympic and Paralympic Games is out of the question because Israel is a democracy."[60] She called for a ban on all Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Summer Olympics because of Russia'sinvasion of Ukraine.[61]
In March 2024, Hidalgo announced that she will not attend theUN Climate Change Conference (COP29) inBaku,Azerbaijan, citing the involvement of the Azerbaijani government in theethnic cleansing of Armenians in the disputedNagorno-Karabakh region in September 2023.[62]
Mayor Hidalgo was one of the main faces behind the organization of the2024 Paris Olympics. In a bid to demonstrate the Seine River would be clean and safe for Olympics events, she told French radio on 10 July 2024 that she would swim in the river the following week.[63] She fulfilled her promise a week later on Wednesday, 17 July and swam in the Seine River in a wetsuit.[64] Despite her promotional efforts, eleven days later Olympic organizers were forced to cancel a training session for triathletes due to high levels of fecal matter and E-coli bacteria in the river. Though the competition did take place as scheduled, several athletes later fell ill with gastrointestinal infections.[65]
In 2023, Hidalgo faced criticism of her trip toFrench Polynesia, which her political opponents described as a "holiday". In response, she published a list of meetings she attended and although she did not visit the2024 Summer Olympics surfing site in Tahiti, she said her deputy in charge of sports did.[66]
Since June 2004, Hidalgo has been married to politicianJean-Marc Germain, whom she met when they both worked in the office ofMartine Aubry, then Minister of Labour. Hidalgo and Germain reside in the15th arrondissement of Paris. They have a child together, Arthur Germain, who is the youngest Frenchman to swim theEnglish Channel.[67][1]
Hidalgo is also the mother of two children – Matthieu, born in 1986, a lawyer, and Elsa, born in 1988, an engineer – with her ex-husband Philippe Jantet.[68]
Hidalgo had aCatholic education but is today an outspokenatheist.[69][70][71]
Knight of theLegion of Honour (
France, 2012)[76]
Officer of theNational Order of Merit (France) (France, 2016)[77]
Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon of theOrder of the Rising Sun (
Japan, 2021)[78]
Plaque of theOrder of the Aztec Eagle (
Mexico, 2016)[79]
Grand Officer of theNational Order of the Lion (
Senegal, 2016)[80]_GC.svg)
Dame Grand Cross of theOrder of Civil Merit (
Spain, 2015)[81]
Commander of theOrder of Isabella the Catholic (Spain, 2010)[82]_-_Commander_BAR.png)
Commander of theOrder of the Polar Star (
Sweden, 2014)[83]
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Mayor of Paris 2014–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Socialist Party nominee forPresident of France 2022 | Most recent |
| 1789–1794 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| 1848 | ||
| 1870–1871 | ||
| 1977–present | ||
