The redevelopment project around the Eiffel Tower in view of the 2024 Olympic Games was oh so symbolic. The town hall planned to “pedestrianize” the surroundings of the Tower, green the whole with 16,000 m2 of green space in addition, and build luggage storage for tourists and premises for employees. The problem is that to do all this, it would have been necessary to cut down 42 trees, some of which are centenarians.
Unacceptable for environmental defense associations. And a golden opportunity for the right led by Rachida Dati to disturb Anne Hidalgo’s return to Paris, after her disappointment in the presidential election. “Have you seen how we knock?”, had fun on Monday, May 2, a right-wing elected official. He and others mobilized massively to relay the discontent against the town hall’s project. Which announced, in the face of the sling, to review its project from top to bottom.
The town hall does not only give in to the demands of associations and the right. It also responds to requests from the environmental group in Paris, yet an ally of Anne Hidalgo, who had voted for the project in February … and who published a press release on Monday afternoon to finally demand its re-examination. And that is precisely what the right wanted: to drive a wedge between Anne Hidalgo and her allies. Weaken the coalition that rules the capital. Anne Hidalgo’s low scores in Paris in the first round of the presidential election (2.17%) are restoring the appetite of her communist and environmental partners.
“Hidalgo is going to be a wounded animal, you have to be careful”
There is also the prospect of this national PS-Greens-Communists and Insoumis agreement, an agreement discussed by the leadership of the Socialist Party behind the back of the mayor of Paris, and which led Dominique Versini, a close friend of Anne Hidalgo, to renounce to stand for legislative elections. Hidalgo weakened in Paris, the right intends to take advantage of it more than ever. The Republicans will continue to blow on the embers. They are preparing “a welcoming committee for May 31″, date of the next Council of Paris. Hectic session ahead.
An elected official warns:We will intervene on everything.“Beyond May 31, a relative of Rachida Dati predicts difficult months for Anne Hidalgo,”who will find it difficult to act” he said, judging her”prisoner of his alliance“. “It will have a tense majority in the future, which will work with permanent blackmail”, predicts the same. Can the coalition explode? “Impossible“, answer the connoisseurs. Rachida Dati plays 2026, the next municipal in Paris.
Warning from a relative of Nicolas Sarkozy’s ex-minister: “Hidalgo is going to be a wounded animal. A wounded animal, you have to be careful”. A way of saying that the right would be wrong to bury the socialist presidential candidate too quickly.