Anne Hidalgo, Socialist mayor of Paris, in her City Hall office on November 25, 2024. ADRIENNE SURPRENANT/MYOP FOR LE MONDE
The facts are indisputable: Paris's air has become more breathable and fewer cars have traveled its streets between the beginning and end of Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo's two terms as mayor. But as Hidalgo comes to the end of her 12-year mandate (2012-2026), one outstanding question remains: Did these improvements come as the direct result of local mobility policies?
Hidalgo claims her record is uncontestable. "The results of our actions are clear – they speak for themselves," she said in her New Year's address on January 14, referring to the drop in pollution. But while there is an apparent correlation between this reduction and her municipal policies, the causality is more debatable. On the other hand, Hildago's dogged determination to pursue, whatever the cost, the reforms begun by her predecessors, is not.
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