Anne Hidalgo celebrates ten years at the helm of the capital. A decade mainly marked by the transformation of public spaces and the end of the “car-centric” approach, despite heavy criticism.
Anne Hidalgo has promised. One fine July day, she will leave her office at City Hall, take a few steps towards the banks of the Seine, and dive in. “It will be a beautiful dive, full of symbolism,” she announced to Ouest France in early February. There is definitely no question of stepping back, as her predecessor Jacques Chirac had done in the past. Just before the opening of the Olympic Games, this grand leap must come to symbolize and demonstrate to the world the transformation of the capital ten years after the mayor took office on April 5, 2014. Anne Hidalgo wants to tell the story of a capital that has become more pleasant to live in, adapted to climate change, where bicycles will soon replace cars. A Paris where even the Seine, which was long believed to be hazardous to anyone who dared to dip a toe in it, has become swimmable. She assures The Figaro: “During the Olympics, Parisians will be proud of their city and eager to show it off.” Everyone in the capital also knows: a successful Olympics will put Anne Hidalgo on course for a third candidacy in 2026.
