Anne Hidalgo


Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu is a Spanish-French politician serving as Mayor of Paris since 2014. She is the first woman to hold the office.
A member of the Socialist Party since 1994, she was First Deputy Mayor of Paris under Bertrand Delanoë, having held the title of Paris City Councillor from the 15th arrondissement since the 2001 municipal elections.

Biography

Family background and youth

Hidalgo was born in San Fernando, near Cádiz, in Andalusia, Spain. Her paternal grandfather was a Spanish Socialist who became a refugee in France after the end of the Spanish Civil War along with his wife and his four children. However, her grandparents returned to Spain some time later. Her grandmother died on the return trip whereas her grandfather was sentenced to death, although this sentence was eventually commuted to a life sentence.
Hidalgo's father, Antoine Hidalgo, was raised by his maternal grandparents. He was an electrician. In the late 1950s, he married a seamstress named Maria; they had two daughters, Ana and María. However, due to the difficult economic climate in Spain during this period, Hidalgo's parents migrated to France, this time as economic immigrants. They settled in Lyon in 1961, with their two daughters.
She grew up in Vaise, the ninth district of Lyon, speaking Spanish with her parents and French with her sister. Her parents are now back in Spain while her elder sister, Marie, manages a company in Los Angeles.
Hidalgo became a French citizen at the age of fourteen; she is also a Spanish citizen. She was naturalized French with her parents on 25 July 1973, at the age of 14. In 2003 she regained Spanish nationality, and since then has dual French-Spanish nationality.
Since June 2004, she has been married to the politician Jean-Marc Germain, whom she met when they both worked in the cabinet of Martine Aubry, then Minister of Labor. They have a child together, born in 2002; Anne Hidalgo is also the mother of two children born of a previous union in 1986 and 1988.

Studies

Hidalgo graduated with a Master degree in social law at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 before completing a Master of Advanced Studies in social and trade unionism at Paris West University Nanterre La Défense
In 1982, she entered the national contest for the Labour Inspectorate, ranking 5th. In 1984, she won her first post in the Inspection du travail representing the 15th arrondissement of Paris. She retired from the civil service in July 2011, aged 52.

Labour inspector

She obtained her first inspector assignment in Chevilly-Larue in 1984 at the age of 24 and lived in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. In 1991, she was appointed director of the National Institute of Labour.
In 1993, she joined the vocational training delegation at the Ministry of Labour and then obtained a mission at the International Labour Office in Geneva from 1995 to 1996. She then worked for one year as a project manager for the Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Labour. From 1996 to 1997, she was an officer at the Human Resources Directorate of Compagnie Générale des Eaux.
On 1 July 2011, Hidalgo retired from her position as labour inspector.

Member of ministerial cabinets

Between 1997 and 2002, Anne Hidalgo worked in three ministerial cabinets within the Jospin Government, first in the cabinet of Martine Aubry at the Ministry of Employment and Solidarity as technical advisor, then with Nicole Péry, Secretary of State for Women's Rights and Vocational Training, from 1998 to 2000, as technical advisor then consultant to the firm, participating, in particular, in the drafting of laws on parity and professional equality between women and men. From November 2000 to May 2002, she was a technical adviser and then mission manager, responsible for social relations and the status of civil servants, in the cabinet of Marylise Lebranchu, Minister of Justice.
She said on April 4, 2013 on RMC: "I earn € 5,000 net per month for my mandates". According to the website Atlantico, she received, for all her revenues, around 8,200 euros net per month.

Political career

Hidalgo served in three cabinets under the Jospin Government :
In the 2001 municipal elections, she led the list of the Socialist Party in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, which won 26.5% of votes in the first round then was at the second round behind the list gathered around Édouard Balladur and Mayor René Galy-Dejean. She joined the Conseil de Paris and was appointed First Deputy Mayor of Paris.
In June 2002, she was a candidate in the parliamentary elections for the 12th arrondissement of Paris, winning 29.6% of votes in the first round, but Balladur was elected with 54.2% of the vote.
In March 2004, she was elected to the Conseil régional d'Île-de-France on the list of Jean-Paul Huchon.
As part of the internal campaign for the nomination of the Socialist candidate in 2006, she publicly supported Dominique Strauss-Kahn, while remaining close to Lionel Jospin and Bertrand Delanoë. With other female leaders of the Socialist Party, she criticized the "peoplelisation" of politics, referring to the promotion of Ségolène Royal as a popularist widely-identifiable member of the Socialist Party, rather than a classical Marxist.
In June 2007, she was a candidate at the legislative elections for the 13th arrondissement of Paris and had in the first round 28.2%, against 36.6% for the UMP candidate Jean-François Lamour, and was beaten on the second round with 56.7% for Lamour.

First Deputy Mayor of Paris

In the 2001 municipal elections in Paris, she led the list of the Socialist Party in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, which obtained 26.5% of the votes in the first round, then reached the second round behind the list of Édouard Balladur and the outgoing mayor. René Galy-Dejean. Elected Borough Councilor in the 15th arrondissement, she also joined the Paris Council, where the left is now the majority.
The new mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, wishing to apply parity within his administration and among his deputies, appointed her as the first deputy responsible for gender equality and the time office. Close to François Hollande, she thus obtained her first elective mandate. In 2002, she acted as mayor of Paris during the convalescence of Bertrand Delanoë after he was stabbed during an attempted assassination. She confided at the same time to consider a candidacy for mayor of Toulouse in 2008.
In June 2002, as a candidate in parliamentary elections in the 12th constituency of Paris, she won 29.6% of the vote in the first and only round against 54.2% of the vote for incumbent Édouard Balladur, who was re-elected. She also failed to remove the 13th constituency of Paris from the right in June 2007, obtaining in the first round of legislative elections 28.2% of the vote, then 43.3% of the votes in the second round against 56.7% for the former minister Jean-François Lamour.
In the municipal elections of March 9 and 16, 2008, the assembly list that she conducts in the 15th arrondissement of Paris came first in the first round with 35.9% of the vote against a strongly divided right, 33.9% to Philippe Goujon's UMP list and 10.1% to Gérard d'Aboville's list. In the second round, his list obtained 47.35% of the votes against 52.65% obtained by Philippe Goujon, whose list merged with that of Gérard d'Aboville. Anne Hidalgo remained first Deputy Mayor under Bertrand Delanoë. She was then responsible for town planning and architecture and seats for the board of directors of the Parisian Urban Planning Workshop.
In 2017, an article from Capital stated that Anne Hidalgo was paid by the Ministry of Labor from 2001 to 2003 for €100,000, while being Bertrand Delanoë's first assistant. Anne Hidalgo's office indicated that she will file a complaint for defamation.

Regional Advisor of Île-de-France

After the 2004 regional elections, she was elected to the Ile-de-France Regional Council after being voted for Paris on the list conducted at the regional level by Jean-Paul Huchon. She is a member of the Committee on Transport and Traffic and is the Chair of the Regional AIDS Information and Prevention Center.
In the 2010 regional elections, the list of PS she leads in Paris comes in second place in the first round, with 26.3% of the vote, behind the list led by Chantal Jouanno and in front of Europe Ecology list of Robert Lion. In the second round, his list took the lead with 57.9% of the votes cast, winning in the 1st and 5th districts, two bastions traditionally anchored on the right. Re-elected as regional councilor, she joined the culture commission and became president of Île-de-France Europe, which represents the region in Brussels. Jean-Luc Romero succeeds him to the presidency of the CRIPS. As mayor of Paris, she does not represent herself in the Region.

Mayoral Elections

In 2012 Anne Hidalgo announced her intention to seek the succession of Bertrand Delanoe in the municipal elections of 2014 in Paris. The only candidate of her party after the withdrawal of Jean-Marie Le Guen, Anne Hidalgo was appointed May 22, 2013 to lead the municipal campaign, with 98.3% of the votes of 2,715 Paris socialists. She appointed Pascal Cherki spokesperson for her campaign, assisted by Bruno Julliard, Rémi Féraud, Ian Brossat, Colombe Brossel, Seybah Dagoma and Myriam El Khomri. On October 10, 2013, she was re-elected as the head of the PS list in the 15th arrondissement.
On March 30, 2014, at the end of the second round of municipal elections, the lists she led won a majority in the Paris Council. In the 15th arrondissement, her list was beaten by Philippe Goujon, which got 63.4% of the vote in the second round. For the first time, a candidate thus accesses the mayor of Paris without being in the majority in her district. On April 5, 2014, she was elected by the Paris Council, becoming the first woman to hold this position. Paris being also a department, she also became president of the departmental council of Paris, and one of ten women presidents of county councils.
She was elected First Vice President of the Métropole du Grand Paris on 22 January 2016, ex officio to her mayoral position.
On June 28, 2020, Hidalgo was reelected as mayor of Paris with 50.2% of the vote. There was a record low voter turnout in the second round of the municipal elections which were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Political views

DADVSI

On 21 December 2005, in the debates on DADVSI, she took a public stand against the amendments of the Socialist Group introducing the "global licence" to download online material. On 26 December, she signed with Christophe Girard, Deputy Mayor of Paris responsible for Culture, a view published in the newspaper Le Monde defending her position on behalf of cultural diversity which would be threatened by the "global licence." Some people contend that she was in fact defending the interests of Vivendi Universal, the music and film company which employed her a few years earlier.
On 3 January 2006, she presented with François Adibi and the Socialist Party's Culture Section a report and new recommendations "for a fair solution", rejecting both the DRM and the "global licence." She was later ostracised by the PS leadership which chose to defend in the National Assembly the "global licence" advocated by Patrick Bloche, Didier Mathus and Christian Paul.

Anti-cult fight

In 2005, Hidalgo took a stand in the debate on cults in France, becoming the president of a committee of vigilance against the cults at the Council of Paris. She was especially opposed to the Church of Scientology and New Acropolis, and participated in a demonstration in front of the Church of Scientology's premises. A map of cults in Paris, created by the Mairie de Paris at that time and promoted by Anne Hidalgo, was controversial and Hidalgo filed a complaint against an unknown person for circulating a leaflet on the Internet signed by a "committee to support Anne Hidalgo", which requested denunciation of "non-compliant behaviours." Anne Hidalgo denies any link with this supposed support committee. A complaint that she brought against the head of the organization that circulated the leaflet was later dismissed.

Air pollution

From May 2016, in order to combat air pollution in the city, Hidalgo oversaw the introduction of a scheme called "Paris Respire", which included banning all cars from certain areas of Paris on the first Sunday of the month, as well as making public transport and the city's bicycle and electric vehicle schemes free for the day. She also worked further to reduce car usage, with an increase in the price of parking meters, a ban on free parking on certain days, and the conversion of certain sections of a highway along the River Seine into a riverside park.
She has also proposed a ban on diesel motors in Paris streets, and has promised to have a 24/7 service for the Paris Métro. Hidalgo is aiming to have more than 600 miles of bike lanes in Paris by 2020.

Housing

At the start of her first term, Hidalgo stated in an interview that housing is her number one priority. Under Hidalgo's Mayorship, Paris has produced 7,000 social housing units a year since Hidalgo took office, up from 5,000 a year under her predecessor. She aims for Paris to be 30% social housing by 2030.

Personal life

Hidalgo is fluent in French and Spanish.
Hidalgo resides in the 15th arrondissement of Paris with her second husband Jean-Marc Germain, a Socialist Member of Parliament, and their son Arthur. Arthur Germain is the youngest Frenchman to swim the English Channel. She also has a daughter and a son from her first marriage, both grown up.
Despite having a Catholic education, Hidalgo is an outspoken atheist.

Honours