The pedestrianized Seine riverbanks in central Paris, October 11, 2025. MARTIN LELIEVRE/AFP
Greening the emblematic Place de la République, maintaining cycling policies, doing away with asphalt, and transforming the French capital into a "sponge city." These might sound like typical proposals from a left-wing candidate in Paris's upcoming municipal elections, scheduled for March 15 and 22, but they're not. The list of proposals actually appears on the platform of Rachida Dati from the right-wing Les Républicains party (LR). Dati, who was also President Emmanuel Macron's culture minister until late February, has gone even further: promising to turn the roads that snake along the Seine river into a "major urban heritage park."
Long gone are the days when a group of Paris residents, unhappy with proposed plans to pedestrianize the riverside road and supported by the traditional right, launched a citizens' referendum to sink the iniative of then-Socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoë. Today, only far-right candidate Sarah Knafo (Reconquête!) has adopted such a stance.
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