Bertrand Delanoë
Bertrand Delanoë (
May 30,
1950) () is a
French politician, and has been the
mayor of
Paris since
2001. He is from the
French Socialist Party.
Delanoë was born in
Tunis,
Tunisia, and moved to
France with his family in his teens.
He has been involved in politics since the age of 23 as the secretary of the Socialist federation in
Aveyron.He was first elected to the Paris city council in
1977.In
1993, he became the head of the city's Socialist Party.In
1995, he was elected to the
French Senate, where he was secretary of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense.
|
Bertrand Deloanoë in July 2005 |
Mayor of Paris
Delanoë has been mayor of Paris since
March 18 2001, when control of the city council was won by a leftist alliance for the first time since the
1871 Paris Commune. His predecessors were
Jean Tiberi (1995-2001), and
Jacques Chirac (1977-1995), who resigned after eighteen years as mayor when he was elected president of France.
Delanoë won the mayorship of Paris, at the head of a coalition of
Socialists,
Greens and
Communists, over the
conservative candidates
Jean Tiberi and
Philippe Séguin, who were unable to resolve their differences and thereby split the conservative vote. This success in a city which has traditionally been a stronghold of the bourgeois right was made all the more striking by setbacks to the Left in the 2001 elections that occurred more generally—has been partially attributed with the weariness of the Parisian public with respect to various scandals of
corruption and
graft in the preceding administrations (see
corruption scandals in the Paris region).
Since becoming mayor, his goals have been to improve the
quality of life, reduce
pollution, and cut down on
vehicle traffic within the city (including a plan for a non-polluting
tramway to ease Parisian traffic) and
pedestrian malls. He is, however, criticized by a majority of Parisians for having increased traffic problems and congestion in the city, and by conservatives for having failed to deliver on his promises.
Delanoë was virtually unknown before the election of 2001; he has since then become a fairly popular mayor, organising new and unusual events in Paris, such as the “Paris Beach”
(Paris Plage) on the banks of the River
Seine every summer since
2002.
Assassination attempt
He was stabbed on
October 5,
2002 during the
Nuit Blanche, a night of festivities in Paris, while mingling with the public. His assailant,
Azedine Berkane, was reported to have told police that "he hated politicians, the Soclialist Party, and
the homosexuals".Before being taken to hospital, Delanoë ordered that the festivities continue. Delanoë's wound was reported not to be life-threatening and he left the hospital after about two weeks.
Olympic bid
The failure to secure the
2012 Olympic Games for Paris on
July 6,
2005 is his first major setback. In the aftermath of the defeat in his Olympic bid, he accused British prime minister
Tony Blair of unduly influencing the result in order to secure the games in
London. However, Bertrand Delanoë's popularity in fact rose during July 2005, and, at 65%, tops that of all other major French politicians. [
1] It seems that the French public lays the blame of the failure on president
Jacques Chirac.
Homosexuality
Delanoë was one of the first major French politician to announce that he was
gay, during a
1998 television interview (before being elected mayor). His election as mayor made Paris the world's largest city with an openly LGBT mayor, passing
Berlin and its mayor
Klaus Wowereit. While not taking an active part in the gay and lesbian community, Delanoë wants to make a difference, especially in ending
discrimination in municipal subsidies to civic groups. Political opponents argue though that such choices are just a new example of
clientelism.
*
Paris and beaches (in French)
*
The Mayor of Paris, from www.paris.fr*
BBC report on stabbing*
CityMayors.com profile*
Poll of Parisians on Delanoë, January 2006 (in French)
