Anne Hidalgo, then-mayor of Paris, in her office at the City Hall, on November 25, 2024. ADRIENNE SURPRENANT/MYOP FOR LE MONDE
Anne Hidalgo's supporters called her the most courageous mayor Paris has ever known, driven by strong convictions and unshakable proactivity, determined to drive cars out of the city center and reduce pollution in order to make the capital a greener, more breathable city. However, according to her critics, the Socialist mayor, who was succeeded by Emmanuel Grégoire on Sunday, March 29, after two terms in office, was an impostor who hid her incompetence behind an authoritarian approach and merely continued to pursue policies that started before her, with results that fell short of expectations.
The reality, as is often the case, lies somewhere in between. When she handed over the reins to Grégoire, Hidalgo was not just closing out her two terms as Paris mayor – she was preparing to move on from a quarter-century chapter of political life. After entering the Council of Paris in the wake of Bertrand Delanoë's election as mayor in 2001, she was immediately appointed as first deputy mayor, a position she held until 2014, when she became mayor herself. Her track record in office was thus inextricably linked to that of her predecessor. Her successor, Grégoire, a Socialist who heads a left-wing coalition excluding the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI), will also not be able to separate himself from Hidalgo's track record, as he served as her first deputy mayor from 2018 to 2024.
