“The cars will not return in front of the Eiffel Tower” after the Olympic Games, assures Anne Hidalgo

Project contested and rejected by the courts, the City of Paris wishes to relaunch negotiations to carry out this redevelopment.

“After the Olympic Games, cars will not return to the Eiffel Tower” where the pedestrianization project wanted by the Paris town hall, but contested by the State, will be partly carried out, wants to believe the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo in an interview granted to the regional daily West FranceMonday February 5.

During the Games, the Eiffel Tower on the Champ-de-Mars side will host the beach volleyball events, in a temporary stadium. After the sporting event, “the Trocadéro will be greened and the Pont d’Iéna pedestrianized, up to the Champ-de-Mars which will be reforested. The whole will form a large park in the heart of Paris”reaffirms the elected official.

A project rejected by the courts

This project desired by the mayor of Paris is not new. But after its validation by the Paris Council in February 2022, the former police prefect Didier Lallement vetoed it, fearing “significant traffic delays” And “detentions” likely to hamper emergency services.

With the projects blocked, Anne Hidalgo made it clear during her wishes in January that she wanted to relaunch negotiations after the Olympic Games. From now on, Anne Hidalgo “wishes the prefect to re-examine his refusal of construction site rights-of-way”his entourage told AFP.

Administrative justice twice ruled in favor of the prefect, rejecting the appeals of the City of Paris in October 2022 and April 2023. With the construction sites blocked, Anne Hidalgo made it clear during her wishes, in January, that she wanted to relaunch the negotiations after the Olympics. Compared to the initial project, the areas of Champ-de-Mars and the Eiffel Tower, where Anne Hidalgo had also had to abandon the felling of around twenty trees in the face of the mobilization of environmental defenders, do not are not affected by the resumption of the project, his office indicates to AFP.